The queen doesn't support queens.

[Rareboy]

^ Yes.

an MBE for service to local government is like winning the 1st prize for strawberry jam at the village fete.

[Hardheaded1]

I see an Irish politician with such a minor impact on the world that he doesn't even have an online profile or listing in Wikipedia. If it were not for the tweet, he would yet die in obscurity.

That said, his views are indeed reprehensible, but that does not negate any actual service he has made to his local community, presuming he has made such service.

The long history of political plums being offered to this and that person in the UK, from the hand of the monarch, is long and unsurprisingly biased. The fix was in, just like for knighthoods. As such, I cannot see why Labor or Tory or any other should have a lock on such patronage and simony.

Lots of bigots died on the beaches of Normandy. They weren't denied posthumously awarded Purple Hearts because of it. Likewise, the pat on the head from Buckingham Palace does not connote the unconditional sanction of Her Majesty upon every aspect of that honoree's life, and should not be seen so.

Gay rights is not at stake, and our UK brethren have much too strong a propensity to seek censorship of their opponents rather than simple conquest in the public forum by promoting the better argument.

Presumably Mr. Mills would have already been vanquished by his constituency if he did not have local favor. He must represent some significant base in that region, no?