Theresa May has recognised her sporting hero Geoffrey Boycott in her resignation honours list as she also awarded titles to her key political aides.
Boycott, along with former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss, both receive knighthoods for services to sport, while Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick becomes a dame.
The former prime minister’s chief EU negotiator Olly Robbins – blamed by many Tory MPs for her three times rejected Brexit deal – receives a knighthood.
Geoffrey Boycott (left), along with former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss (right), both receive knighthoods for services to sport
Her controversial former joint chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill – who were forced to quit No 10 in the wake of the 2017 general election debacle – are made CBEs.
Boycott told ITV’s Good Morning Britain today that it was a ‘hell of a surprise’ when Mrs May told him of the news last Tuesday after he had been to lunch with his daughter.
He added: ‘I’m thrilled to bits that it’s for my cricket. Yes I’ve done bits for charity but I’m glad it’s for my cricket for my performances for Yorkshire and England.
‘When I go to see the Queen – I hope it’s the Queen, I like the Queen – I can take my wife, I’ve got a daughter I can take, and her husband.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick (at Downing Street last month) is now a dame
‘You can call me what you want – the bowlers did when I was batting, so I’m not bothered. It’s recognition. Cricket is about talent but it’s also about character.’
Strauss and Boycott were the only sporting names featured in a list largely consisting of political figures – a nod to Mrs May’s lifelong love of cricket and her admiration for Boycott in particular.
Strauss played exactly 100 Tests for England between 2004 and 2012, scoring over 7,000 runs at an average of 40.91 and captaining his country to two Ashes series wins and the number one spot in the ICC world rankings.
Boycott’s 108 Tests from 1964 to 1982 brought him 8,114 runs at 47.72 – the first man to reach 8,000 in Tests for England – while he averaged 56,83 for his first-class career with 151 centuries and over 48,000 runs in all. He captained England in four Tests in 1978, deputising for the injured Mike Brearley.
At a news conference last November, Mrs May was asked in the form of a cricketing analogy about the number of ministerial resignations, or ‘wickets’, over her handling of Brexit.
Geoffrey Boycott told ITV’s Good Morning Britain today that it was a ‘hell of a surprise’ when Mrs May told him of the news last Tuesday after he had been to lunch with his daughter
‘One of my cricket heroes was always Geoffrey Boycott, and what do you know about Geoffrey Boycott?’ she said. ‘He stuck to it, and he got the runs in the end.’
She had previously praised his dogged style during an appearance on the BBC’s Test Match Special programme.
In other appointments, 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.
Tory Party treasurer Ehud Sheleg, who has donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to Conservative coffers, receives a knighthood.
There is likely to be anger among some Tory MPs at the honours for figures they regard as responsible for Mrs May’s failed Brexit strategy.
Gavin Barwell – who succeeded Mr Timothy and Ms Hill as her chief of staff – becomes a life peer while David Lidington, seen as her de facto deputy, and ex-Number 10 communications chief Robbie Gibb are knighted.
Former chief whip Julian Smith – who has since been made Northern Ireland Secretary by Boris Johnson – is made a CBE.
Another close ally, the former trade minister George Hollingbery – who served as Mrs May’s parliamentary private secretary in both Downing Street and the Home Office – receives a knighthood.
Mrs May’s former political secretary Stephen Parkinson and special advisers Joanna Penn and Elizabeth Sanderson are to become life peers.
There are CBEs for the former Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis, No 10 political aides Paul Harrison and Kirsty Buchanan, as well as Mrs May’s official spokesman, James Slack, who continues in the same role with Mr Johnson.
The former joint acting chairman of the Conservative backbench 1922 committee Charles Walker is knighted while ex-party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin is upgraded to a Companion of Honour.
Jeremy Corbyn has nominated three new Labour life peers – ex-National Union of Teachers general secretary Christine Blower, Newport City Council leader Debbie Wilcox, and the employment rights lawyer John Hendy QC.
MP John Mann, who announced at the weekend he was quitting Labour to become a government anti-Semitism ‘tsar’ has been nominated for for a non-affiliated life peerage while the Green Party have nominated former leader Natalie Bennett for a peerage.
Former chief whip Julian Smith (left) – who has since been made Northern Ireland Secretary by Boris Johnson – is made a CBE. Sir Kim Darroch (right), who was forced to resign as ambassador to the US after falling out with the Trump administration, is made a life peer
In other appointments, Lady Justice Hallett, the vice president of the Court of Appeal Criminal Division becomes a life peer.
Sir Simon Woolley, the founder of operation Black Vote, and Ruth Hunt, the ex-chief executive of Stonewall, are made crossbench life peers.
A source close to Mrs May said: ‘This list recognises the many different people who have made a significant contribution to public life during Theresa May’s political career.
‘It includes not only political colleagues but members of the civil service, civic society, the NHS and the sporting world. It also recognises people from all four nations of the United Kingdom.’
Ruth Hunt (left), lately chief executive of Stonewall, and Lady Justice Hallett (right), the vice president of the Court of Appeal Criminal Division, were awarded peerages
The Lord Speaker, Lord Fowler, said May’s list was ‘substantially smaller’ than those drawn up by predecessors, helping to reduce the size of the House of Lords.
‘I hope that the current Prime Minister continues this policy of restraint,’ he added.
Labour Party chairman Ian Lavery said: ‘It comes as no surprise that big Tory donors and Number 10 cronies are being honoured yet again.
‘The Tories only care about looking after their own and will only stand up for the wealthy few who fund them.’
Domestic abuse charities criticised Mrs May for giving Boycott a knighthood.
Theresa May’s controversial former joint chiefs of staff Nick Timothy (left) and Fiona Hill (right) – who were forced to quit No 10 in the wake of the 2017 general election debacle – are made CBEs
The former Test opener, 78, was convicted in France in 1998 of beating his then girlfriend Margaret Moore in a French Riviera hotel.
Mrs May, who introduced a landmark Domestic Abuse Bill to Parliament earlier this year, gives Boycott a knighthood for services to sport in her resignation honours list.
Adina Claire, co-acting chief executive of Women’s Aid, said: ‘Celebrating a man who was convicted for assaulting his partner sends a dangerous message – that domestic abuse is not taken seriously as a crime.
‘With increasing awareness of domestic abuse, and a domestic abuse bill ready to be taken forward by Government, it is extremely disappointing that a knighthood has been recommended for Geoffrey Boycott, who is a convicted perpetrator of domestic abuse.’
Gavin Barwell (left) – who succeeded Mr Timothy and Ms Hill as her chief of staff – becomes a life peer. The former trade minister George Hollingbery (right) receives a knighthood
A spokeswoman from the Woman’s Trust said: ‘It’s disappointing to see Geoffrey Boycott included in Theresa May’s honours list, given her vocal support for domestic abuse survivors and the Domestic Abuse Bill.
‘While we welcome the recent Domestic Abuse Bill for its work to widen the definition of domestic abuse, the inclusion of Geoffrey Boycott in the honours list shows just how much our attitude as a society needs to change when it comes to supporting survivors.’
Boycott, who has always denied the assault, was fined £5,000 and given a three-month suspended prison sentence over the attack.
Computer consultant Mrs Moore suffered bruising to her forehead and blackened eyes in the assault at the Hotel du Cap in Antibes in October 1996.
The Green Party have nominated former leader Natalie Bennett (left) for a peerage, while the Hon Caroline Haughley QC (right) receives an OBE for public service
Boycott has accused her of putting a ‘stain on my name’ and maintained her injuries were sustained through an accidental slip and fall.
But public prosecutor Jean-Yves Duval rejected Boycott’s claims, saying the injuries were ‘absolutely incompatible’ with an accident and that the cricketer’s lawyer Jean-Luc Cardona did not stand up to examination.
Before she left Number 10 earlier this year, Mrs May introduced the Domestic Abuse Bill, which includes economic, controlling and coercive non-physical abuse as part of the legal definition of the crime for the first time.
The legislation will also establish a new domestic abuse commissioner, prohibit the cross-examination of victims by their abusers in family courts, and beef up the powers available to courts to tackle perpetrators.
An estimated 1.3 million women and 695,000 men experienced domestic abuse in the past year, according to Office for National Statistics figures from November 2018.
GEOFFREY BOYCOTT: Stubborn opening batsman turned no-nonsense pundit
Geoff Boycott during his innings of 107 runs in the third test between England and Australia at Trent Bridge in July 1977
There is no ‘corridor of uncertainty’ about Geoffrey Boycott – he is simply one of the world’s greatest ever batsmen.
To many among a younger generation of cricket lovers he is fondly known for his no-nonsense TV and radio commentaries, and catalogue of typically-Yorkshire pithy put-downs such as ‘my grandmother could have caught that in her pinny’.
But to aficionados of the sport over a certain age, he is first and foremost a stubborn and prolific batsman who is rarely far from his next controversy.
The 78-year-old, who has been awarded a knighthood in former Prime Minister Theresa May’s resignation honours, opened the batting for England and his native county throughout the 1960s, 1970s and into the early 1980s.
But it is more than his record-breaking 48,426 first-class runs that has earned him a reputation to extend far beyond his chosen sport, deep into the public consciousness.
After a career which brought 108 Test caps between 1964 and 1982, he has transported his pithy opinions behind the microphone – chiefly for the BBC and Channel 5 – to unpick the efforts of subsequent generations.
As a cricketer, Boycott was notoriously risk-averse – he was dropped by England for slow scoring after making a career-best 246 not out against India on his home ground at Leeds in 1967 – but as commentator and summariser, he is the opposite.
The same stubbornness appeared to lie behind both styles.
At the crease, he steadfastly refused to even attempt the shots which might bring any element of danger, so determined was he to bat for as long as possible at every opportunity.
On air, the embodiment many thought of his plain-speaking industrial Yorkshire roots, he refuses to dilute the expert opinion he knows is the right one.
He finished his first-class career with an average of 56.83, placing him undoubtedly among the all-time greats, having become the first English Test batsman to exceed 8,000 runs.
Geoffrey Boycott is interviewed ahead of the fourth test between England and Australia at Old Trafford on Sunday
He made 22 Test centuries, putting him joint top of England’s list for the next 30 years alongside Wally Hammond and Colin Cowdrey – and the nation was never more transfixed than when he bestrode Headingley again, choosing Test cricket’s centre stage to make his 100th first-class hundred before his largely adoring public in 1977.
That moment in time, completed with a trademark on-driven boundary off Australia captain Greg Chappell, came in just his second match back in the fold after a self-imposed three-year exile.
Love him or hate him, it is nigh on impossible to ignore Boycott.
The same is true in his reinvention as a pundit, repetition of those homespun phrases ensuring imitation by cricket followers around the world.
Millions play ‘Boycott Bingo’ from their living rooms, waiting to be told about those famously safe hands his grandmother had, or even better for others, that the man himself would have hit the last delivery for four ‘wi’ a stick o’ rhubarb’.
Boycott was born, in fact, around 10 miles to the south of the fecund fields in West Yorkshire’s Rhubarb Triangle, in the mining village of Fitzwilliam in 1940.
At the age of seven, a chest injury suffered after falling on a mangle in a neighbour’s garden cost him his spleen.
But neither that nor the discovery that he was significantly short-sighted prevented him excelling at cricket especially, football – he played for Leeds juniors as a teenager – and cross-country.
It was at Barnsley Cricket Club that Boycott first met two other youngsters with fame stretching ahead of them, Dickie Bird who would play for Yorkshire and go on to become his sport’s best-known umpire and also journalist and broadcaster Michael Parkinson.
His outstanding ability, and plain speaking, brought a level of fame known to few – in the same contemporary bracket from British sport, his great friend Brian Clough was a comparable transcendent force as the charismatic genius of football management.
For Boycott, retirement has not hindered profile – but there are two notable personal battles.
He fought unsuccessfully to clear his name on an assault charge brought in a French court by former girlfriend Margaret Moore in 1998.
It was a conviction he strenuously denied but one which resulted in dismissal by British-based broadcasters and press, who did not relent for several years.
In 2002, the stakes were higher still after he was diagnosed with throat cancer, from which he recovered, defying the statistics with the support of his partner Rachel Swinglehurst, whom he then married.
Boycott returned too to the commentary box, where he is happy to play many more shots than he had dared in the middle.
There was the occasional mishap, including his earthy description of South Africa all-rounder Ryan McLaren in 2009, uttered when he thought he was off air but resulting in a BBC apology.
Unequivocally nonetheless, Boycott’s critiques are a long-standing hit with listeners and viewers.
Recognition has come in many forms. There was an OBE, in 1982, and it was barely a surprise to English eyes in the mid-1980s – though doubtless bemused some other nationalities – when Boycott was spotted in foot-high letters painted in bright red on the graffiti-laden western side of the Berlin Wall.
Closer to home, he was proud with endorsement at last from the Headingley establishment when he was made Yorkshire president from 2012-14, a tenure which spanned the club’s 150th anniversary.
By then, he had long acquired among his nicknames the abbreviation GLY – the ‘Greatest Living Yorkshireman’ – maybe not to everyone but to many within his county and beyond.
And now Boycott has another title to add to his collection.
ANDREW STRAUSS: Natural leader whose biggest impact could be yet to come
England’s Andrew Strauss in the test match between England and Australia at Headingley in Leeds in August 2009
Andrew Strauss’ long and proud service to the game of cricket makes him a fitting beneficiary of the sport’s latest knighthood, though there is a sense the honour comes at a time when his work beyond its borders has only just begun.
Strauss will go down as one of the most influential cricketers of modern times, having played very different roles in each of England’s three biggest achievements in the past 20 years.
In the 2005 Ashes, the best loved and most revered series most fans can remember, he was the only batsman in either team to make two centuries. Later emerging as a natural captain he led England’s only series win Down Under since 1986 and this summer he was the unseen administrative architect of the national side’s historic World Cup success.
As a sporting CV it is hard to beat, but his latest honour finds him at the outset of a new chapter. It is one that finds him bouncing back from personal tragedy and ready to pour his considerable abilities at wider issues.
Strauss’ wife Ruth died of a rare form of lung cancer in December, by which time he had already given up his role as managing director of England cricket. For now he is dealing with the unexpected trials of being a single parent to his two boys, Sam and Luca, but the Ruth Strauss Foundation is already up and running and, with his drive, leadership and contacts book, its aim of bringing profound change to the lives of affected families appears eminently achievable.
When he successfully managed to take over Lord’s with a day of awareness building and fundraising during the most recent Lord’s Test, Strauss managed to turn the historic venue into a sea of red – Ruth’s favourite colour – and raised over £400,000.
England captain Andrew Strauss celebrates scoring his century against Australia on the first day of the second Ashes Test match at Lords in London in July 2009
Strauss is savvy enough to know it was not just his name that allowed him such a dramatic statement – it was his exploits as an athlete that placed him in position.
Born in Johannesburg, but relocated to England at the age of six, he came through his education at Caldicott School, Radley College and Durham University with an accent, a demeanour and an allegiance that rendered him a quintessential Englishman.
For all the England national side is mocked for its reliance on imports from South Africa, his name is rarely ever invoked.
After earning his stripes at Middlesex, Strauss made his early international steps in the limited-overs arena only to announce himself more emphatically on the Test stage.
He made a debut hundred against New Zealand at his home ground, Lord’s, and might have made another had he not been run out by then captain Nasser Hussain. Such was Strauss’ impact, Hussain opted for retirement rather than blocking the younger man’s progress.
A year later he played all five Tests in what became known as ‘the greatest series’, helping end an 18-year wait for an England win in the Ashes. By reaching three figures at Old Trafford and The Oval, and producing one of the greatest catches at Trent Bridge, he played a full part in a game-changing summer for the sport.
He was long considered ‘officer class’ but had to wait for his chance to be named permanent England captain in 2009. He went on to lead the team 50 times – exactly half of his final tally of 100 caps. Only Michael Vaughan can better his record of 24 wins, but Strauss’ reign was one of peerless highs too.
Alongside Andy Flower he fronted a phenomenal victory over Australia on their own soil in 2010/11 and soon after raised the side to world number one status – the first England side to be officially recognised as such.
That his eventual exit was surrounded in acrimony following a falling out with star batsman Kevin Pietersen was regrettable for all concerned but his status was undiminished.
As such it was barely a surprise when he became arguably the most powerful man in the English game less than three years later.
He was an active MD, still attuned to the contemporary player and respected by the more senior powerbrokers. One key decision he made was to prioritise white-ball cricket with an eye on the transformative effect a World Cup win on home soil could have for the game.
At the time it was a long shot but, when Eoin Morgan lifted the trophy in July, it had come through. Strauss had exited by then, unable to finish the job with Ruth’s struggle close to its end, but in the aftermath of the triumph his name was toasted warmly and often.
He plans to remain in cricket, but no longer in a full-time capacity, and will devote a great deal of energy to his wife’s foundation and hopes for nothing short of a significant impact.
That he will do so as Sir Andrew Strauss is testament to him, and in all likelihood, a deserving honour for what is still to come.
An (opener-heavy team of English cricketing knights
Andrew Strauss and Geoffrey Boycott have joined the list of English cricket’s sporting knights.
Like the majority of the list, the pair both opened the batting in Test cricket for England.
Here, the PA news agency puts together an opener-heavy team picking from those who are now Sirs.
1. Alastair Cook
Tests: 161; Runs: 12,472; Hundreds: 33; Batting average: 45.35.
In an incredibly competitive field, England’s leading Test run-scorer cannot be overlooked when it comes to opening the batting. Nobody else has passed 8,900 runs for England, let alone come close to matching his 12,472, and he was man of the series in his side’s historic series victories in India and Australia. The Essex left-hander may not have been the most stylish or fluent batsman but there is no arguing with the results.
2. Jack Hobbs
Tests: 61; Runs 5,410; Hundreds: 15; Batting average: 56.94.
Partnering England’s most prolific opener is first-class crickets most prolific batsman. Hobbs retired after a career that spanned almost 30 years with 61,760 runs and 199 centuries – records which still stand today and are unlikely to be surpassed. He scored over 5,000 runs in the Test arena and played in 100 fewer than Cook. Hobbs, who is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all-time, could also bowl and was lauded for his fielding.
3. Geoffrey Boycott
Tests: 108; Runs 8,114; Hundreds: 22; Batting average: 47.72.
If any bowler can remove one of the opening duo, they will then come up against the stubbornness of Boycott. He was once dropped by England for slow scoring after making a career-best 246 not out against India on his home ground at Leeds in 1967, but his determination to bat for as long as possible has to be admired. England could certainly have done with a player of his ilk at Old Trafford this summer. He opened the batting for England and Yorkshire throughout the 1960s, 1970s and into the early 1980s, but he will have to settle for coming in at number three in this team.
4. Len Hutton
Tests: 79; Runs: 6,971; Hundreds: 19; Batting average: 56.67.
Another Yorkshireman who can count himself very unlucky not to be opening. A more circumspect batsman than Hobbs, former England captain Hutton’s international career spanned 18 years and his 364 against Australia in 1938 stood as the highest individual score in Tests for 20 years and remains an England record.
5. Andrew Strauss (c)
Tests: 100; Runs: 7,037; Hundreds: 21; Batting average: 40.91
Another fine opener but he can drop down the order to concentrate on captaincy. Out of this list, he has the joint most wins as captain (24) but his came in nine fewer Tests than Cook so he gets the honour of leading the team. He led England to an Ashes win Down Under for the first time since 1986-87 and to the top of the Test rankings.
6. Colin Cowdrey (wk)
Tests: 114; Runs: 7,624; Hundreds: 22; Batting average: 44.06.
Only Cook and Kevin Pietersen have scored more Test centuries for England. Cowdrey was the first cricketer to reach 100 Test matches and he celebrated the occasion with a ton against Australia at Birmingham in 1968. The Kent batsman’s international career saw him become the most prolific Test run-scorer but here he has to settle for coming in at number six. This team lacks a wicketkeeper but since he played the position at school and took 120 catches for his country, he can don the gloves.
7. Pelham Warner
Tests: 15; Runs: 622; Hundreds: 1; Batting average: 23.92.
Known affectionately as Plum or the ‘Grand Old Man’ of English cricket, the Trinidad-born Warner captained England in 10 of his 15 Tests, regaining the Ashes in 1903-04, while he is one of only two players – alongside Hobbs – to earn the coveted honour of Wisden Cricketer of the Year twice. Another opener who scored over 29,000 first-class runs, his low average sees him drop right down this side’s batting order.
8. Ian Botham
Tests: 102; Runs: 5,200; Hundreds: 14; Batting average: 33.54; Wickets: 383; Bowling average: 28.4.
Arguably England’s greatest all-rounder would usually be coming in higher up the order but this team’s middle order starts all the way down at number eight. But his bowling prowess means he will take new-ball duties. His contributions almost single-handedly decided the outcome of the 1981 Ashes and when he retired from playing he held the record for the leading Test wicket-taker of all-time. Botham’s charity work, in which he raised millions of pounds for leukaemia research, saw him become the first English cricketer to be knighted in this century.
9. Gubby Allen
Tests: 25; Runs: 750; Hundreds: 1; Batting average: 24.19; Wickets: 81; Bowling average: 29.37.
Another all-rounder who would ideally be coming in higher up the order. Allen refused to employ the inflammatory leg-theory tactics favoured by Douglas Jardine during the ‘Bodyline’ Ashes series in 1932-33 but his occasionally devastating fast bowling still reaped 21 wickets. He went on to skipper England in 11 Tests while his first-class career with Middlesex spanned four decades.
10. Henry Leveson-Gower
Tests: 3; Runs: 95; Hundreds: 0; Batting average: 23.75.
Known as ‘Shrimp’, Leveson-Gower was knighted in the same year as former Surrey and England team-mate Hobbs. However, Leveson-Gower, who captained England in all three Tests he played in South Africa in 1910, received the honour in recognition of being a legislator and a long-serving England Test selector. He did not bowl in his brief England career but with 46 first-class wickets at 29.95 – and three five-wicket hauls – he will be the team’s spinner.
11. Alec Bedser
Tests: 51; Wickets: 236; Bowling average: 24.89.
Opening the bowling is the one-time holder of the world record for Test wickets. Bedser is widely regarded as one of the best fast bowlers in England’s history during an international career that started in 1946 and ended in 1955. He featured regularly alongside his twin Eric for Surrey and finished with nearly 2,000 first-class wickets.
12th man. Francis Lacey
First-class statistics: Matches: 50; Runs scored: 2,589; Wickets: 52.
The former Hampshire captain did not play for England but became the first person to be knighted for services to any sport in 1926 upon retiring from his role as secretary of the Marylebone Cricket Club, a position he held for 28 years.