Category Archives: Honours system

Liz Truss aide Mark Fullbrook pushed for advisers to get honours

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Exclusive: chief of staff said to have wanted ex-PM to sign off resignation honours list featuring her advisers

Mark Fullbrook, Liz Truss’s chief of staff, pushed for many of her advisers to get resignation honours despite her government only being in place for seven weeks, according to multiple sources.

Fullbrook, whose tenure in No 10 has been overshadowed by questions over his private lobbying interests, is expected to depart along with Truss’s other advisers as Rishi Sunak takes her place.

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Victoria and George Cross recipients to take part in Queen’s funeral procession

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Seventeen of those awarded the honours will be in attendance, including one from New Zealand and four from Australia

Recipients of the highest honours that can be awarded to military personnel and civilians for services to their country are to take part in the procession at the Queen’s funeral.

Seventeen of the 23 recipients of the Victoria Cross for military valour and the George Cross for civilian gallantry will be in attendance at the service on Monday, including one from New Zealand and four from Australia.

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Cricket great Shane Warne recognised posthumously in Queen’s birthday honours

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Warne and retired former world No 1 tennis player Ash Barty become officers of the Order of Australia

Shane Warne has been recognised posthumously in this year’s Queen’s birthday honours list, with the cricket great becoming an officer of the Order of Australia.

The former Test spinner, who died from a heart attack in March, was joined by the retired former world No 1 tennis player, Ash Barty, in being honoured with an AO, while the current women’s national cricket captain, Meg Lanning, was awarded an AM, a member of the Order of Australia.

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Health experts dominate Australia’s Queen’s birthday honours for work during pandemic

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Brendan Murphy, Kerry Chant, Jeannette Young and Mary-Louise McLaws among recipients recognised for their work on Covid

A Covid honour roll has again dominated the Queen’s birthday honours list, with former chief health officer Dr Brendan Murphy appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), one of 92 people who have been recognised for their work during the pandemic.

The New South Wales chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, was awarded an AO for “distinguished service to the people of NSW through public health administration and governance, and to medicine”.

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Gavin Williamson awarded knighthood by Boris Johnson

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MP presided over exams debacle after being sacked as defence secretary for alleged leak

Boris Johnson has awarded a knighthood to Gavin Williamson, despite a ministerial record that includes the Covid exams debacle as education secretary and being sacked as defence secretary for allegedly leaking secure information.

The news prompted anger from opposition parties, with Labour calling Williamson’s record “disgraceful”. The Liberal Democrats called the knighthood “an insult to every child, parent and teacher who struggled through Covid against the odds”.

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Met investigating cash-for-honours claims linked to Prince’s Foundation

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Metropolitan police have launched investigation into allegations linked to Prince Charles charity

Scotland Yard has launched an investigation into cash-for-honours allegations linked to the Prince of Wales’s charity the Prince’s Foundation.

In a brief statement, the Metropolitan police said it had launched the investigation after media reports alleging offers of help were made to secure honours and citizenship for a Saudi national.

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Prince Charles’s former aide quits as charity boss amid cash-for-honours claims

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Michael Fawcett resigns from The Prince’s Foundation after accusations he offered to help secure a knighthood for Saudi donor

A former aide to the Prince of Wales has resigned as chief executive of one of Charles’ charities amid an alleged cash-for-honours scandal.

Michael Fawcett and his party planning company will also no longer be providing services to Clarence House, a spokesperson said.

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Charles has ‘no knowledge’ of alleged offer of honours, says

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Clarence House says Prince of Wales supports investigation after he and trusted aide reported to police

The Prince of Wales has “no knowledge” of the alleged honours and citizenship controversy, Clarence House has said, after Charles and his most trusted aide were reported to the police over the claims.

At least two complaints have been made to the Metropolitan police over allegations that a wealthy Saudi businessman was offered help to secure an honour and British citizenship after donating to Charles’s charities.

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Prince Charles’s former aide steps down as charity boss amid conduct inquiry

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Michael Fawcett, who was CEO of Prince’s Foundation, faces claims about honour for a Saudi businessman

A former aide to the Prince of Wales has stepped down temporarily from his role as a charity boss while an investigation into allegations about his conduct takes place.

Michael Fawcett, a former assistant valet to Charles, has stepped down as chief executive of the Prince’s Foundation amid claims about an honour relating to Saudi businessman Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz.

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26 January: Sydney Invasion Day march called off as PM says Australia has ‘risen above brutal beginnings’ – live

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Four protesters arrested at Sydney demonstration; rallies take place around Australia as debate around the national day rages. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

And with that comes the end of today’s blog. This is what went down today:

An update on the bushfire burning in Booderee national park on the NSW south coast: the NSW Rural Fire Service have said crews are backburning in order to build containment lines and slow the blaze.

Watch and Act: Booderee Fire (Shoalhaven LGA). Crews are implementing backburning operations to build containment lines and slow the spread of the fire, burning to the SW of Jervis Bay Airport. Those in area of Wreck Bay Village and Jervis Bay Village should monitor conditions. pic.twitter.com/nMLxwiKktL

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Bettina Arndt awarded Australia Day honour for services ‘to gender equity’

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Writer and sex therapist made Member of the Order of Australia for her advocacy for men

The controversial writer and media commentator Bettina Arndt has been recognised in this year’s Australia Day honours list for services “to gender equity through advocacy for men”.

The journalist, author and sex therapist was made a Member of the Order of Australia on Sunday – the third-highest rank under Australia’s civic honours system.

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Judge who convicted Geoffrey Boycott: I stand by my verdict

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‘I cannot believe he’s being received by the Queen,’ says French judge

The French judge who convicted Geoffrey Boycott of assaulting his girlfriend has criticised the former England cricketer after he was knighted and says she stands by her decision to find him guilty.

The move to award Boycott the honour prompted outrage this week from a domestic violence charity. He was convicted in 1998 of assaulting Margaret Moore, who was left with black eyes after he hit her 20 times.

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Calls for Boris Johnson to withdraw Geoffrey Boycott’s knighthood

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Charities and opposition parties highlight ex-cricketer’s conviction for domestic abuse

Boris Johnson is being urged to withdraw Geoffrey Boycott’s knighthood over his conviction for domestic violence and the former England cricketer’s response to criticism.

Women’s charities and opposition parties made the call after Boycott said he did not “give a toss” about condemnation of his knighthood from a leading domestic violence charity.

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Theresa May accused of cronyism over resignation honours

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Decision to give CBEs to her two controversial former advisers and party donors is condemned

Theresa May has been accused of “rotten” cronyism after handing out peerages, knighthoods and other honours to her closest aides, including her controversial former advisers Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, who left office amid accusations of bullying behaviour.

May’s resignation honours list heaps rewards on those who worked in Downing Street during her three-year tenure, despite her having previously poured scorn on cronyism under David Cameron.

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Robot sex expert on honours list plans college with Fraser Anning to teach ‘Trumpism’

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Adrian Cheok, who was made a member of the Order of Australia, has been censured for ‘aggressive, belittling’ language towards colleagues

A robot sex expert and former far-right candidate who was awarded a Queen’s Birthday honour for “significant service to international education” says he is setting up a graduate school with Fraser Anning which will teach classes on “Trumpism” and “Bannonism”.

Prof Adrian Cheok was also accused in an open letter by organisers of a 2017 academic conference of using “aggressive, belittling” language towards another professor. In a separate incident, he also labelled another academic as “psycho … old, fat and balding” and said he worked at a “tin pot university”, according to a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

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Australia Day honours list: Kylie Minogue and Peter Reith among 2019 recipients

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Women account for 37.5% of those honoured – a record but still short of the 40% target promised by Labor

This year’s Australia Day honours list has the highest proportion of women ever – but female recipients still make up just over a third of the list, only a 4.5-percentage-point increase from last year.

Seven former Liberal or National male politicians have been honoured in the 2019 awards, including former Nationals leader Warren Truss, former deputy Liberal leader Peter Reith and former Liberal national director Tony Nutt.

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