Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SNEAKY TORIES’ ATOMIC GONGS
Honours for Oppenheimer director & right-wing cronies
PM Rishi Sunak snuck out a bombshell cluster of honours to Tory party cronies last night.
Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan also got a knighthood in the surprise honours list before the Easter weekend.
Tory treasurer Mohamed Mansour, who gave the party £5million last year, was named a Sir, too.
The former minister under Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak gave the Tories their largest donation in 20 years in 2023, after donations dipped when Boris Johnson resigned.
The Mirror last year reported the billionaire also held undeclared dinner parties for VIPS, who were given private access to ministers.
Right-wing Conservative MP Philip Davies, whose wife is “Common Sense” Minister Esther Mcvey, was knighted alongside Farming Minister Mark Spencer.
Ex-sports Minister Tracey Crouch and BLAST Treasury Select Committee chairwoman Harriett Baldwin were made dames. Democratic Unionist Party MP Gregor Campbell received a CBE.
An Oscars and BAFTAS winner in 2024, Nolan and his producer wife Emma Thomas will get a knighthood and damehood for services to film. Mr Sunak gave a knighthood to Dr Demis Hassabis, co-founder of AI firm Deepmind. He sat on No10’s AI council.
Matthew Clifford, adviser to the Tories on AI, and Ian Hogarth, chairman of the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute, were made CBES. Netflix CO-CEO Ted Sarandos got an honorary CBE for services to creative industries. Labour Chair Anneliese Dodds hit out at the Tory gongs, saying: “This is the arrogant act of an entitled man who’s stopped caring what the public thinks, or the demob-happy selfindulgence of someone who doesn’t expect to be PM much longer. “A blatant disrespect for the office he should feel privileged to hold.”