‘WehelpA-listshowbizandsport clients–butmakesurenoone knowstheyareworkingwithus’

BAYLEAF Honours charges £1,99 plus VAT for its services but also has a DIY package for £200-£400.

The firm says its clients include ‘A-list showbiz and sports stars’ as well as charity workers and business leaders.

Officially you cannot nominate yourself for an honour, but boss Mike McKie told an undercover reporter that seven in ten of his clients were ‘self-nominating’. In these cases, the client appoints a trusted colleague or friend who agrees to be their official nominator.

Bayleaf Honours then does ‘all the work in the form’ but makes sure it is submitted from the email of the official nominator because ‘we keep ourselves out of it’, Mr McKie said.

The official nominator knows of the company’s involvement but none of those subsequently contacted to write letters backing the application are told the nominee has hired Bayleaf Honours and is ‘paying the bill’.

Mr McKie added: ‘We operate in a way to make sure their name is never associated with working with a company like us.

‘So when we reach out to get letters of support, obviously we would never say “this person is nominating themselves”. We would say,

“we are working on behalf of an anonymous client who wishes to nominate X for an honour”. So discretion is built into what we do.’

Mr McKie said: ‘It’s not cash for honours, we don’t have secret access to people, we don’t do secret lobbying.

‘We know how the process works and we just take all of the facts in the nominees’ case and work with the supporters and just make sure there’s a great case gets presented that is compelling and clear and meets all of the criteria. We don’t promise success.’

He declined to reveal exactly what the company’s success rate is but said it is better than the average of 10 per cent of all public applications. This is partly because the firm turns down four in ten requests because it does not think they stand a genuine chance.

The process takes from six to eight weeks and at any one time the firm is working with around 30 clients.

A spokesman for Bayleaf Honours said: ‘We always make it clear to prospective clients – as we did to your undercover reporter – that there is a free option directly on the Government website, and that we promise no access or influence directly on the honours process.’