NEW YEARS HONOURS 2025

[Richard R]

Here's my very meagre starter for ten. I look forward to fellow posters additions, etc

GCVO

The Honourable Dame Annabel Alice Hoyer WHITEHEAD, D.C.V.O., Lady of the Royal Household, dau d of 1st Baron INCHYRA 1900-89

DCVO

Sarah Rose TROUGHTON, Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire, gt gd of 14th Earl of STRATHMORE & KINGHORNE (1855-1944) and The KING’s 2^nd cousin.

LVO

Margaret Anne, Baroness FORD, O.B.E., Former Chair, Buckingham Palace Reservicing Programme Challenge Board.

OBE

Lady (Marguerite Catherine) HUNTER BLAIR, Chief Executive, Play Scotland. For services to Play, to Learning and to Health. She was nee O’NEILL and m 1984 Sir Patrick David HUNTER BLAIR 9^th Bt b 1958, and had 3 sons and two daus.

Estelle Marilyn, The Lady WOLFSON OF MARYLEBONE, Philanthropist. For services to Medical Research and to the Arts. She m as his 2^nd wife the LP (and 2^nd Bt) Baron WOLFSON [sic] who d 2010.

MBE

Christabel Diana Beatrice, The Lady FLIGHT. For services to Local Government and to Charitable Causes. She m 1973 the LP Baron FLIGHT b 1948.

[David Beamish]

Two more:

Baroness Gustafsson OBE has been promoted to CBE: "Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Darktrace. For services to the Cyber Security Industry."

Mike Katz, one of the new life peers announced on 20 December, has been appointed MBE: "National Chair, Jewish Labour Movement. For Political and Public Service."

[Richard R]

Thanks David. Is she actually Baroness GUSTAFSSON, ie letters patent 'an all?

[dpth...@gmail.com]

Not Peerages, but among the notable new knights/dames and other honorees are Stephen Fry, Gareth Southgate, Sarah Lancashire and Carey Mulligan, as well as some of the post office-scandal activists.

BBC's article here:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1ln96d4yyeo

[dpth...@gmail.com]

This from Politico's London Playbook may give some substance and background to some of the new honors:

https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/arise-sir-sadiq/


"IT’S AN HONOR: A bunch of politicians are waking up on the final day of 2024 with shiny new gongs after the government unveiled the New Year’s honors list last night. Thirty people were recognized for political and public services, while scores of other Westminster-adjacent people were listed among the 1,200 recipients. The most high-profile among the political class to get a gong this year is London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who was awarded a knighthood in the first New Year’s list under Keir Starmer.

Sir Sadiq: Khan said on Monday night he was “truly humbled” to have received a knighthood, adding: “I couldn’t have dreamed when growing up on a council estate in south London that I would one day be mayor of London.”

But but but: Not everyone is happy (obvs). The Tories were quick to pounce on the increases in London knife crime and council tax since Khan won the mayoralty in 2016, arguing he was unworthy of his knighthood. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said it amounted to “rewarding failure.” The Telegraph and Mail splashed on the Tory attack line this morning.

Nothing like a dame: Meanwhile, Labour MP Emily Thornberry was given a damehood in what will almost certainly be seen in SW1 as a consolation prize from Starmer, after she was omitted from his Cabinet. The MP said she was “honored and surprised in equal measure.” She added: “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.” Labour peer and former Blair-era Cabinet minister Patricia Hewitt was also given a damehood, along with senior civil servant Tamara Finkelstein.

Tory tribes: Former MPs Ranil Jayawardena, Marcus Jones and Nick Gibb were given knighthoods on the Tory side of the ledger. They were joined by former Conservative West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, just months after he lost an attempt to win a third term. Jayawardena, who was knighted at the tender age of 38, said “public service has always been important to me and my family, it is important in my faith, and it is an opportunity to give back to community and country.”

What people actually care about: Unsurprisingly, it is not the knighthoods of Tory MPs or Labour mayors that the majority of newspapers (or people to be fair) are most interested in this morning. The biggest headlines are reserved for Gareth Southgate, who became the fourth ex-England football manager to get a knighthood — after coming runner-up in two Euro finals. Southgate’s knighthood makes the front of the Sun, Times, i, Telegraph, Mirror and Daily Star.

Best of the rest: Other notable non-politicians to receive knighthoods and damehoods include actor/writer Stephen Fry, MI5 boss Ken McCallum, Network Rail chief Andrew Haines and HSBC Chief Executive Neil Quinn. The BBC has a great list of all the big names receiving honors here.

One for the quiet bat people: Starmer paid tribute to the 1,200 honors recipients, particularly the “unsung heroes” who “do extraordinary things for their communities.” The PM, who is currently on holiday with his family in Madeira, said: “They represent the very best of the U.K. and that core value of service which I put at the center of everything this government does.”

Gongs in the post: Worth noting a host of Post Office scandal campaigners were handed OBEs, including Lee Castleton, Seema Misra, Chris Head and Jo Hamilton. Castleton, a former subpostmaster who was falsely accused of stealing £25,000 from the Post Office, said “sometimes you have to step forward and shout as loud as you can because some of our group aren’t able to do that.” The Mirror’s Ashley Cowburn has his full quotes.

Ones you might have missed: Playbook also spotted several other Westminster-adjacent people awarded gongs in the mammoth list. This includes an OBE for TheCityUK chief Miles Celic, MBEs for LGBT Conservatives Chair Luke Black, Jewish Labour Movement Chair Mike Katz, and Nathaniel Dye, a cancer patient who campaigned with Starmer during the election. "

[colinp]

CB (Mil) -  Major General Alastair Andrew Bernard Reibey BRUCE OF CRIONAICH, O.B.E., D.L., V.R., Army Reserve, 509493. - scion of the Earls of Elgin (also former Governor of Edinburgh Castle, Fitzalan Pursuivant Extraordinary and candidate in the recent election for the Chancellor of Oxford University)

[S R Eglesfield]

CBE

 

Annika Victoria BOSANQUET, of that landed gentry family, of Rock Hall.

 

Rt Hon Timothy John Crommelin EGGAR, married to Charmian MINOPRIO, of that landed gentry family.

 

Hon David Louis TAYLOR, son of the Life Peer Baron Taylor of Gosforth.

 

OBE

 

Romilly Le Quesne SAUMAREZ SMITH, wife of Sir Charles Robert SAUMAREZ SMITH, CBE, who is a descendant of the Hanbury and Deedes landed gentry families.

 

MBE

 

Hon Nicole Mary CAMPBELL daughter of the 4th Baron Swaythling.

 

Robin Michael Kirkpatrick DALY, of that landed gentry family, of Castle Daly.

 

Mark William FANE, whose step-great-grandfather was a great-grandson of the 8th Earl of Westmorland.

 

Major Grenville Archer IRVINE FORTESCUE DL, a descendant of the 2nd Baron Fortescue, who was father of the 1st Earl Fortescue.

 

Sally Anne STRACHEY, who is the wife of the Hon Richard Towneley STRACHEY, the brother and heir presumptive to the 4th Baron O'Hagan.

[colinp]

Baroness Gustafsson was so created by LP 15 Nov 2024 -  Life peerage for Minister for Investment: Poppy Gustafsson OBE

[colinp]

DBE (Civil)

Caroline [Jayne] MICHEL, Literary Agent and Chair, Hay Festival. For services to Publishing and Literature - she m 1991 (sep) Matthew Evans (1941-2016) who was cr 2000 a life peer as Baron Evans of Temple Guiting

[colinp]

Knight Bachelor

Dr. Loyd Daniel Gilman GROSSMAN, C.B.E., F.R.S., Chair, The Royal Parks. For services to Heritage - he m 1985 Hon Deborah Jane PUTTNAM b 1962 d of the life peer Lord Puttnam

[Jonathan]

Sir Loyd Grossman divorced Deborah Puttnam in 2004. He m May 2024 Melissa Knatchbull, former wife of Hon. Michael Knatchbull, son of the 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma and the 7th Baron Brabourne.

[colinp]

DBE (Civ)

 The Right Honourable Patricia Hope HEWITT, Chair, NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board. For services to Healthcare Transformation. - former w (m 1970, div 1978)  of Hon David Julian GIBSON-WATT b 1946 s of life peer Lord Gibson-Watt ( d 2002) 

[colinp]

CBE (Civ)

James Michael Douglas THOMSON, lately Chair, City of London Police Authority Board. For services to Policing and to Inclusion – m 1996 Katherine Clare b 1968 d of Sir Frank Linton Sanderson, 3rd Bt (d 2023)

OBE (Civil)

Dr. [Hon] Thomas Bernard David BALCHIN, Founder and Director, The Action for Rehabilitation from Neurological Injury Stroke Charity. For services to Functional Rehabilitation after Stroke – son of the life peer Lord Lingfield

Rupert Andrew Woodward GOODMAN, Chair, British-Kazakh Society.  For services to the promotion of Trade and Investment and to UK interests overseas, particularly in Kazakhstan – m Pamela Jane b 1965 d of S/Ldr Christopher Charles Blount LVO RAF and (m 1957) Hon Susan Victoria LYTTON COBBOLD (1933-2021) d of the 1st Baron Cobbold