Sir Geoffrey mounts rigid defence over May honour
Yorkshire cricket legend brushes aside objections to his knighthood because of domestic abuse conviction
SIR GEOFFREY BOYCOTT has said he does not “give a toss” about criticism of Theresa May’s decision to award him a knighthood 21 years after a conviction for domestic abuse.
The former England cricketer, who had been repeatedly denied an honour after the controversial guilty verdict in a French court, claimed he had been the victim of “blackmail” and that the public knew he was innocent.
He was backed by Sir Henry Bellingham, a Tory MP and barrister who said it was “absolutely right” that the Yorkshireman should be recognised for his sporting achievements.
The former prime minister’s decision to use her resignation honours list to overturn the effective ban on the recognition for Sir Geoffrey follows a 2015 Daily Telegraph investigation which uncovered fresh evidence that he was wrongly convicted.
Mrs May, a huge cricket fan, campaigned when she was home secretary for her favourite player to be honoured. But yesterday Labour called on Boris Johnson to rescind the knighthood, saying it was “an insult to survivors of domestic violence”.
Dawn Butler, the shadow women’s minister, said: “Honouring a perpetrator of domestic violence just because he is the former prime minister’s favourite sportsman shows how out of touch and nepotistic the honours list is.”
Adina Claire, the co-acting chief executive of Women’s Aid, said the award was “very disappointing”.
Sir Geoffrey, 78, reacted with typical bluntness when questioned by BBC Radio 4’s Today presenter Martha Kearney: “I don’t care a toss about her, love. It’s 25 years ago. So you can take your political nature and do whatever you want with it. You want to talk to me about my knighthood, it’s very nice of you to have me.
But I couldn’t give a toss.”
In 2015, The Telegraph disclosed that Margaret Moore, his then girlfriend who accused him of hitting her in a French hotel room, admitted to a friend that she had slipped on a marble floor and hit her head, causing the injury she blamed on Sir Geoffrey. Ms Moore told Sir Geoffrey she would drop the case against him in return for £1 million, according to court papers, but he refused. He was fined and given a suspended sentence by a French court.
Sir Geoffrey alleged yesterday: “She tried to blackmail me for £1million… it’s a court case in France where you’re guilty until you’re presumed innocent. That’s totally different from England and it’s very difficult to prove your innocence in another country, another language.”
Sir Henry, who signed a letter to David Cameron in 2015 recommending Boycott for a knighthood, said: “This behaviour was completely out of character. He never had any previous example of violent behaviour to anyone.”