The government earned more criticism for its decisions when it unveiled its first New Year’s honours list last night.
Keir Starmer paid tribute to 1,203 people, including actors, authors, scientists, sportspeople and charity workers, on the annual list, drawing particular attention to “unsung heroes” who “do extraordinary things for their communities”. “They represent the very best of the UK and that core value of service which I put at the centre of everything this government does,” said the prime minister.
But as usual, it was the less unsung recipients who caught most eyes. Among the high-profile honours recipients, including actors Stephen Fry and Carey Mulligan, as well as authors Kazuo Ishiguro and Jacqueline Wilson, were a few more controversial picks.
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London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been knighted “despite presiding over spiralling crime rates in the capital”, said The Telegraph. When the planned honour was first reported earlier this year, a petition against it drew “more than 200,000 signatures in less than a month”.
Londoners will be “furious” at the gong, said shadow home secretary Chris Philp. Under Khan’s watch, “Londoners have faced a 61% increase in knife crime, a housing crisis and a 70% increase in council tax,” he added. “They will rightly be furious his track record of failure is being rewarded.”
Khan, formerly the Labour MP for Tooting, was elected to an unprecedented third term earlier this year. But during his time in City Hall, London has been “dubbed the ‘knife crime capital'”, said the Daily Mail. The Metropolitan Police has been “forced into special measures”, while Khan has “sparked anger among drivers with Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) and increases in the congestion charge”.
His supporters, however, claim that the Ulez – a charge on the most polluting cars – has “almost halved toxic air pollution in central London”, and that Khan has “invested record amounts in neighbourhood policing”.
As Khan has been elected three times, “some people must think he is doing a good job”, said The Spectator. But “why on Earth” has the man who has vowed to “decolonise” London, introducing grants to change street names commemorating colonial figures, accepted an honour “dripping with colonial associations”?
The 54-year-old said he was “truly humbled” by the award. But agreeing to become a Knight of the Order of the British Empire, when it seems he “detests everything” about said Empire, “opens him up to charges of gross hypocrisy”.
Some have also questioned the knighthood of Noel Quinn, the former chief executive of HSBC, for services to finance and net zero. “This was a guy who happily froze the accounts of British National Overseas people who arrived here in the UK from Hong Kong at the behest of the Chinese government,” said former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith. “This sends a signal that this Government is dead keen on doing business with China. It is the wrong signal to send.”
Emily Thornberry also received a damehood in “what will almost certainly be seen in SW1 as a consolation prize from Starmer”, said Politico’s London Playbook newsletter. The Labour MP and former shadow foreign secretary, who was “omitted” from the PM’s Cabinet following the election, said she was “honoured and surprised in equal measure” by her recognition.
But “the biggest headlines” in today’s papers are reserved for Gareth Southgate, said Playbook. Southgate, who resigned after England’s 2-1 defeat to Spain in the Euro men’s final in July, is now the fourth England manager to be knighted. That’s despite being “pilloried by pundits and having pints of beer hurled at him by fans for failing to bring home trophies”, said The Times.
In a less controversial move, victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal Lee Castleton, Jo Hamilton, Christopher Head and Seema Misra were appointed OBEs for services to justice. But Castleton, who was falsely accused of stealing £25,000 from the Post Office, said that although he was “very proud and honoured” by the award, “I would much rather we were all fully compensated and people were held to account”. Of the four former sub-postmasters whose campaigning helped to expose the scandal, only Castleton and Hamilton have received any “financial redress” under the Horizon compensation scheme launched in March, noted the i news site.
What next?
Khan’s honour comes three weeks before Donald Trump’s inauguration back into the White House, and would put the mayor on the invitation list for a state banquet if Trump is offered a second visit to the UK.
During Trump’s first term as US president, the two men had a high-profile feud after Khan claimed it would be “un-British” to host him on a state visit. In response, Trump called him a “stone-cold loser”.
