> Therefore making <, >, etc. raise on NaN while keeping the
> status quo for != and == would bring Python floats closer to
> compliance with IEEE 754.

Not so.  Either way, Python would be providing exactly 10 of the 22 required IEEE 754 comparison operations (see sections 5.6.1 and 5.11 of IEEE 754-2008 for details).  If we wanted to move closer to compliance with IEEE 754, we should be providing all 22 comparisons.