Rishi Sunak has handed a knighthood to a Tory mega-donor who gave the party £5million last year.
Egyptian-born billionaire Mohamed Mansour, who is a Conservative Party treasurer, was among those given gongs in a surprise honours list snuck out before the Easter weekend. Mr Mansour, a former minister under Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, gave the Tories their largest donation in 20 years in 2023, in a boost to Mr Sunak after donations dipped following Boris Johnson's resignation.
The Mirror reported last year that he organised cosy, undeclared dinner parties for super-rich VIPs, who were given private access to senior ministers. No money was raised at the closed-door soirees in his house in Belgravia, which took place between 2018 and 2022.
In January last year, the Sunday Mirror reported how Mr Mansour had been raking it in from a firm still dealing with warmonger Vladimir Putin's Russia.
Mr Mansour is worth around $3.2billion (£2.5billion) according to Forbes last year. He was named as a major Tory fundraiser in December 2022, having donated more than £600,000 to the party through his company Unatrac
Right-wing Tory MP Philip Davies, whose wife is the Government's "common sense" minister Esther McVey, was knighted, alongside Farming Minister Mark Spencer. Former sports minister Tracey Crouch and Treasury Select Committee chairwoman Harriett Baldwin were both made dames. Democratic Unionist Party MP Gregor Campbell has also been made a CBE.
Labour Party Chair Anneliese Dodds said: "This is either the arrogant act of an entitled man who's stopped caring what the public thinks, or the demob-happy self-indulgence of someone who doesn't expect to be Prime Minister much longer. Either way, it shows a blatant disrespect for the office he should feel privileged to hold.”
The unexpected honours list triggered immediate speculation that the PM was clearing the decks ahead of the general election. However a Government source told the i that the timings were "unconnected".
Separately, British filmmaker Christopher Nolan and his wife and producer Emma Thomas will also receive a knighthood and damehood for their services to film. It comes after their biopic Oppenheimer was the toast of the awards season, picking up the coveted Best Picture and Best Director awards at the Oscars earlier this month.
The tech-obsessed Prime Minister also gave a knighthood to Dr Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Google-owned AI firm DeepMind. Dr Hassabis sat on the Government's AI council. Matthew Clifford, adviser to the Government on AI, and Ian Hogarth, chairman of the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute, have also been made CBEs.