PM under fire after honour for top donor

Surprise Easter list hands knighthood for businessman who gave £5m to party

RISHI SUNAK has prompted an Easter honours row as he announced a knighthood for one of the Conservatives’ biggest donors.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister rewarded Mohamed Mansour, who gave £5 million to the party last year, in a surprise list that was released at 5.30pm just before the Bank Holiday weekend. It also included honours for four Tory MPS who have been loyal to Mr Sunak – including Philip Davies, the husband of Esther Mcvey, the Cabinet minister.

Christopher Nolan, the film director, and his wife, Emma Thomas, a producer, fresh from the success of Oppenheimer at the Oscars, are to be handed a knighthood and damehood – a move which critics said was an attempt to give the list a veneer of credibility.

Such an announcement of honours outside of the New Year and King’s Birthday lists in June will fuel speculation about a summer election.

Downing Street sources have attempted to play down speculation that a June or July election could be on the cards, stressing that going to the ballot box in the autumn remains the aim. But the surprise honours list will be seen as an attempt to shore up support before an election. Mr Sunak was also accused of blocking and delaying honours proposed by Boris Johnson and Liz Truss after they left Downing Street.

It comes at a time when Tory finances are under scrutiny after Frank Hester, its biggest donor, was embroiled in a scandal over “racist” remarks about Diane Abbott. Mr Sunak has faced calls not to accept any new donations from Mr Hester, having refused to return £10 million he has already given.

The honouring of Mr Mansour, an Egyptian-born billionaire, sparked immediate controversy.

Anneliese Dodds MP, the Labour Party chairman, said of Mr Sunak’s decision to announce the honours: “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.”

Richard Tice, the leader of Reform UK, said: “The nation is sick of the Tories and their obscene cronyism. Bung them a few million quid and a peerage or knighthood is yours. The whole thing stinks like a rotting fish, from the head. Amusingly, they have tried to disguise their tracks with various other soft or cultural types being honoured. We are not that stupid.”

Government sources insisted that Mr Sunak “loves film” and wanted to “capitalise on a really good” awards season by celebrating British cultural success.

Mr Mansour gave £5million to the Conservatives last January, which at the time was the single largest donation the party had received in moe than 20 years. He was appointed a senior Treasurer of the Tories in December 2022.

A naturalised British citizen, he has also donated to many charitable causes including The King’s Foundation and a memorial for the victims of Covid. His knighthood was awarded for services to “business, charity and political service”.

Mr Sunak also knighted Mark Spencer, the farming minister, while Harriet Baldwin, the chairman of the Commons Treasury committee, and Tracey Crouch, a former sports minister, were made dames. Mr Spencer was previ- ously the Tory chief whip and was cleared of telling Nus Ghani, a Muslim minister, that she had been sacked because of her faith.

Mr Davies is a noted Sunak loyalist and has used his GB News show, which he co-presents with his wife, to defend the Prime Minister’s record in office. Matthew Clifford, who helped organise this year’s Bletchley Summit on AI, and Ian Hogarth, the chairman of the Government’s AI taskforce, have been handed CBES.

A new honours list had been needed to add Vaughan Gething, the Welsh First Minister, and Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader in Westminster, to the Privy Council.