Knighthood for sacked Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC… and a £1million Conservative Party donor

Former Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC was awarded a knighthood yesterday, despite being sacked from the Cabinet by Boris Johnson earlier this year.

The MP and barrister reportedly provoked the wrath of the Prime Minister ahead of his reshuffle in February.

He also faced controversy last year when, as Britain’s most senior legal officer, he advised the Government that Parliament could be prorogued – only for the decision to be overturned by the Supreme Court.

Mr Cox also spoke at Mr Johnson’s launch to become Conservative Party leader. Guy Weston, a major donor of at least £1million to the party, is knighted for his services to philanthropy and charity. 

Mr Weston is from one of Britain’s richest families, with their wealth estimated at £10.5billion by the Sunday Times earlier this year due to stakes in companies including Primark and Fortnum and Mason.

Lynne Owens, head of the National Crime Agency, was awarded a damehood for services to law enforcement, despite criticism over the appointment of the police chief behind Scotland Yard’s disastrous VIP abuse inquiry as her deputy.

Steve Rodhouse became Mrs Owens’s £245,000-a-year number two despite being savaged by a former High Court judge for his role in the Met’s £2.5million Operation Midland investigation into bogus claims of a Westminster paedophile ring. 

Mark Bowman, the Treasury mandarin responsible for negotiating Britain’s £38million Brexit ‘divorce bill’ payment to Brussels, was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. 

Labour heavyweights were also handed gongs. Angela Eagle, an MP since 1992, becomes a dame. She resigned from the frontbench as shadow business secretary in 2016 over Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

Tom Clarke, was awarded a knighthood aged 79 in recognition of his long parliamentary career which includes serving the Scottish constituency of Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill for more than 30 years.

There was also an award for Dave Lewis, the former chief executive of Tesco, who was knighted after turning round the supermarket’s fortunes after the company was forced to admit it had overstated profits by £250million in 2014.

There was also a damehood for Irene Hays, co-founder of Hays Travel, the UK’s largest independent travel agent, for services to training, education and young people.

The company saved thousands of jobs when it acquired all Thomas Cook stores last year following the travel giant’s collapse.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of industry body UKHospitality, was given an OBE after a year which has seen the sector hit by mass closures and redundancies. 

And Professor Paul Cosford, emeritus medical director of Public Health England was knighted, having spoken candidly in recent months of his diagnosis of incurable lung cancer.