Sadiq Khan and Emily Thornberry were among the Labour politicians to receive gongs in Labour’s first new year honours list since winning the election in July.
The mayor of London, who secured a record third term in City Hall this May, said he was “truly humbled” by the honour, while Thornberry, who had been a surprise omission from Keir Starmer’s first cabinet after holding the role of shadow attorney general in opposition, described herself as “both honoured and surprised” by her appointment as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
She said: “I think of my grandmothers, neither of whom were even allowed to work as married women, and think how utterly delighted they’d be to see this. My husband was knighted a few years ago and I never felt comfortable sharing his title, calling myself ‘Lady Nugee’, but Dame Emily is a name I’d be proud to go by.”
News of Khan receiving a knighthood has sparked some controversy on social media, even from people who were quite about politicians such as Priti Patel, Therese Coffey, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Michael Fabricant being honoured under Tory administrations.
In fact, the Conservatives presided over a remarkable tenfold increase in the number of sitting MPs being handed knighthoods and damehoods during their 14 years in power, a recent analysis found.
One former standards watchdog chairman said that honours were being given out like “lollipops” as a “political device” to secure the support of MPs and that it was time to put an independent body in full control of the process.
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