Tory donor's Knighthood indicates Rishi Sunak's exit, says Labour party

Labour party has claimed that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak simply believes he's on the way out because of his choice to bestow a 'knighthood' to a businessman and former Egyptian government minister who gave £5 million to the Conservative party.

Along with a number of Conservative MPs, Mohamed Mansour—who held the position of senior treasurer for the Tory party for just over a year—was among the unanticipated beneficiaries of awards that were revealed late on Thursday (March 28).

While the citation for Mansour said the knighthood was for business, charity and political service, Anneliese Dodds, the Labour chair, said it appeared clearly tied to his donation to the Tories.

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She told Sky News that this appeared to be the behaviour of either a very arrogant prime minister who simply doesn't give a damn about what the public thinks, or someone who is essentially demob happy and doesn't think he's going to stay in that position. “Really, I think the public are going to be quite shocked by this news today.

I believe Rishi Sunak has some important questions to answer once more today. And like I said, it tends to suggest that he doesn't give a damn about what the public thinks, or that he just thinks he's going to leave his position as prime minister soon, in which case he doesn't need to worry about this anymore.

"Labor has made it clear that we think those who have contributed to our public life should be recognised with honors," she stated.

"Someone who has contributed a significant amount to a political party shouldn't automatically be given preference or be rewarded in that way. Some people are philanthropists, and they donate to a wide variety of causes. However, this is special because we are discussing the Conservative Party's largest-ever donor at the moment," Anneliese further said.

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At £5 million, Mansour's donation to the party is the largest yet. Frank Hester, a businessman, reportedly pledged an additional £5 million and donated £10 million since then.

When it became known that one of Mansour's family businesses was still in operation in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, the opposition demanded last year that Sunak return the donation.

Along with Mansour, the founder of DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, and the pair behind the films, Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas, also received knighthoods. Ted Sarandos, an American businessman and co-chief executive of Netflix, received an honorary knighthood.

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Philip Davies, a backbench MP, and Mark Spencer, a former senior whip under Johnson, were also knighted, and Harriett Baldwin, the chair of the Treasury committee, and former minister Tracey Crouch were made dame.

The decision to present a number of honours prior to the Easter break could reignite rumors that Sunak is considering holding a summer election.

(With inputs from agencies)