Two Welsh politicians on ex-PM’s honours list
THERESA MAY has announced the people to be recognised in her resignation honours – and the list includes two notable Welsh politicians.
The Prime Minister’s Resignation Honours are granted by The Queen at the request of an outgoing Prime Minister.
Former Gower MP and AM for South Wales West Byron Davies has been given a life peerage, as has Debbie Wilcox, the leader of Newport City Council and the Welsh Local Government Association.
Ms Wilcox was made the first female leader of Newport Council in May 2016 and first head of the Welsh Local Government Association, the following year.
Mr Davies was elected to Gower in 2015 and lost his seat two years later.
He was nominated by Mrs May, in her role as former leader of the Conservative and Unionist party.
Normally, the Prime Minister chooses only peers from their own party, but permits the leaders of opposition parties to recommend peers from those parties.
Ms Wilcox is one of three people nominated by the leader of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn.
Several members of Mrs May’s former staff have been recognised in the list, published today.
Oliver Robbins, the Prime Minister’s chief Brexit negotiator, has been knighted, as has David Lidington, her de facto deputy Prime Minister.
Mrs May’s former director of communications, Robbie Gibb, has also been knighted.
Other well-known figures receiving nods are Geoffrey Boycott OBE, former captain of the English cricket team, who is knighted for services to sport, as is Andrew Strauss, also a former captain of the English national cricket team.
Sir Kim Darroch, who was forced to resign as ambassador to the United States after falling out with the Trump administration, is made a life peer.
He will sit as a non-party crossbencher.