Be Honest: Would You Give Your Mates an Honour If You Were Prime Minister?

David Cameron's resignation honours list descended into chaos and accusations of cronyism after it emerged that he'd reward George Osborne, senior figures in the wildly unsuccessful Remain referendum campaign, his wife's stylist and even his personal drivers.

To give you an idea of how badly this has gone down, Tory donor Ian Taylor – who forked out £1.6 million to the party and £350,000 to stay in the EU – has sought to distance himself from the drama by actively requesting that he not be given a knighthood. Still, Dave's not letting any of this phase him, rising above it all on a £15,000 holiday to Corsica.

But how legit is this scandal anyway? Crony is another word for friend. Are we really angry at Cameron for having a great bunch of mates? If we had a PM who gives honours to people who actually deserve it, wouldn't that mean they're a total loner?

We took to the streets to find out if people would give their cronies, AKA mates, an OBE if they could.

VICE: Do you think the honours system means anything any more?
Miles, 28: I feel like it makes the award mean nothing for everyone else who's got it. I mean, if you've earned an OBE and then you find out that Samantha Cameron's stylist has got it, then what was the fucking point of getting it in the first place? It just makes it seem like a pointless award now that it's being handed out like sweets.

So you wouldn't give it to your mates then?
I would do it in jest. I'm a bit of a funny guy. If I was doing it, I'd do it to keep the morale high. Like, "Things are bad, but you know, there's a silver lining: here's an award for being a driver."

Do you hope Theresa May blocks it?
To be honest, it looks like a red herring to me. Everyone's getting fired up and riled about this, but on the flip-side, what are they doing behind the scenes that they don't want us to see?

Mmmmm.

How important do you think this cronyism scandal is?
Courtney, 30: It won't affect the general public. There's so many things happening in people's lives to care what David Cameron's doing. There's a lot of issues around the world that are just getting suppressed, like Syria.

Are you surprised by Cameron's behaviour?
That is a bit cheeky. It's so unprofessional; it's really dishonest. But the political system is based on corruption all over the world. I don't think anything will ever change. But Theresa May can step in and pick up the pieces.

Would you give honours to your mates?
If I was in government, it's highly likely I would. Wouldn't you give yours? Maybe not if I was in a position of power – it's a bit unorthodox. But I would definitely help people. I think it's a nice thing to help people.

Who would you give an award to then?
The NHS. It couldn't be anyone in particular. But definitely the NHS for the work they do; they deserve better recognition. David Cameron needs to start looking after the people like that.

Jax, 25 and Oscar, 25

Oscar, imagine you're PM. Would you give Jax an honour?
Oscar: If I didn't have priorities and I was just chilling out, then I probably would. It's just a matter of signing a piece of paper. I'm a giver, so I'm more about making people happy. And if it was going to further whatever they're doing in their life, then absolutely.
Jax: It's literally only a paper. I love my friends, I'm all for that. If there was time and resources and everything in the country was fine, I really would.

How do you feel about this honours palaver?
Ryan 25: Cronyism is terrible. There's people that deserve the awards. People who work at a grassroots level. People who work with young people. I'm from Hackney and we've seen social services eroded, nothing for the youth. There's less now than ever. If anyone deserves an honour, an OBE, it's people helping young people.

Would you give your mates honours?
I wouldn't. They need to earn it. I don't know if I agree with the concept of an OBE, what it stands for. I don't know if we should be spending money on honours in this day and age. Money could be spent elsewhere, taxpayer's money, rather than on pomp and ceremony. When the common man or woman is seeing cuts to services, privatisation and the NHS, then you see all these very well-to-do people, the elite, celebrating themselves… it's expected; I'm used to it, sadly. Doesn't mean I agree with it, though. It should be discontinued as soon as possible.

Rubin, 20 and Raihana, 21

Would you give your mates honours if you were PM?
Raihana: If my friends did something good enough, then of course I'd give it to them.
Rubin: Yeah, we wouldn't be biased. But you can't be Prime Minister and do something like that; it's unprofessional. You can't be like, "Oh, I'm not Prime Minister now, it doesn't matter. I don't have much responsibility, I can just go to my home in the countryside and live with my family." Not acceptable.
Raihana: As Prime Minister, you're given responsibility to act with a neutral head and actually give people honours who deserve things.
Rubin: There are more people worthy of honours. There must be people out there and they'll never be recognised. There will be.

So how do you feel about it all?
Tanya, 32: It's bullshit because it just makes everything meaningless if you're just giving things for the sake of it because you know them. I don't care about OBEs, they're bullshit.

Be honest, would you give your mates honours?
All my mates are awesome, so I probably would, so that's the thing. It depends what your friends are doing, though. I've got some mates doing some really good things, but if your mates are working a normal job… I've got friends who are stylists; I wouldn't give them an OBE.

Theresa May might scrap it. How do you feel about that?
It's so irrelevant to my life who has an OBE and who doesn't. It's so elitist. This side of society is a mirage, it's an illusion. There's no substance behind it. Stuff like this shows us where the cracks are. We can do better than this. Who is going to take orders off people who are awarding their wife's stylist OBEs? Why are we listening to these idiots?

So Cameron's wife bagged herself an honour. Does she deserve it?
Zeba, 28: Samantha's got great style, but is that really that award-winning?

So do you think this just reflects the old boys network at its worst?
Well, it wouldn't happen with Jeremy Corbyn, would it? The leadership election is coming up. I'm holding out for him, so I'm optimistic things might change.

@its_me_salma

More on VICE:

We Asked an Expert If Theresa May Will Call a Snap General Election

Who Is Owen Smith, the Man Who Thinks He Can Topple Corbyn?

Is Momentum a 'Cult of Dangerous Thugs'?