Formula 1’s Lewis Hamilton gets knighthood despite living in Swiss and Monaco havens for 13 years

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Lewis Hamilton was made a knight in the New Year Honours list last night – despite living in the tax haven of Monaco.

The seven-time Formula 1 champion, 35, was honoured alongside stars, including actress Sheila Hancock who becomes a dame at the age of 87, and NHS workers who have battled the pandemic.

Veteran footballers Jimmy Greaves and Ron Flowers were made MBEs along with singer Craig David while Line Of Duty and Bodyguard writer Jed Mercurio was given an OBE.

Hamilton, 35, who is worth more than £250million, quit the UK in 2007 to live in the tax havens of Switzerland and Monaco.

But he insists he does pay some tax in the UK. He has stressed: ‘I am contributing to the country and, not only that, I help to keep a team of more than 1,000 people employed.’

Boris Johnson had come under sustained pressure to include Hamilton in the list after a year in which he equalled German ace Michael Schumacher’s record with seven F1 titles and became a vocal activist for the Black Lives Matter movement. Hamilton was raised in a council house in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

It is understood the sport honours committee was unable to recommend him through the usual channels because his Monaco residency meant that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs could not vet his tax affairs adequately. 

As the Mail has revealed, Mr Johnson was so keen to see Hamilton knighted that he was included on the Foreign Office’s ‘Overseas’ list – the first time a British sporting figure had been accommodated in this way.

Donna Fraser, of UK Athletics, who sits on the committee which decides sporting honours, said he was a ‘phenomenal’ sportsman who deserved the knighthood but conceded the honours system did have to be protected from ‘disrepute’.

But Tory MP Andrew Percy questioned why an F1 driver should receive a knighthood on Britain’s diplomatic list. He added: ‘I would have thought their sponsorship deal would be enough for them.’ 

Meanwhile, Miss Hancock joked she felt ‘miscast’ for her damehood, adding: ‘I feel I may be lowering the tone.’

Dame Sheila, who has worked on stage and screen since the 1960s and was married to Inspector Morse star John Thaw until his death in 2002, said she felt the honour brought ‘an immense sense of duty’. 

She said: ‘I feel I’ve got to prove something and work even harder, particularly in my charity area. I’ve got to earn it, as it were, now quickly before I die.’

Actress Lesley Manville, 64, who will play Princess Margaret in the final two seasons of Netflix hit The Crown, was made a CBE. 

EastEnders actress Nina Wadia received an OBE and Coronation Street veteran Sally Dynevor, 57, who has played Sally Webster since 1986, becomes an MBE.

Actor Toby Jones, who has played Alfred Hitchcock and Dobby the house-elf in Harry Potter, received an OBE. 

Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins, who worked on films including Blade Runner, Shawshank Redemption and Skyfall, was knighted. 

Broadcaster Eric Robson, 73, who headed Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time for almost three decades, was given an OBE. 

Football heroes Greaves, 80, and Flowers, 86, were made MBEs after a long-running campaign to ensure every surviving member of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning squad gets an honour.

The Prime Minister said he hoped the New Year Honours would inspire the nation. Mr Johnson said: ‘In a year when so many have made sacrifices to protect our NHS and save people’s lives, the outstanding efforts of those receiving honours today are a welcome reminder of the strength of human spirit and of what can be achieved through courage and compassion.

‘The 2021 New Year Honours offer us an opportunity to salute their dedication and recognise many who have gone above and beyond in their contribution to our country.

‘As we begin a new year and continue to come together to fight this virus, may their service and stories be an inspiration to us all.’ 

Government officials said it was ‘profoundly right’ that the honours should celebrate frontline workers who had helped to save countless lives from the virus.

They stressed that future honours lists would continue to celebrate the work of those fighting the pandemic, including the teams behind recent vaccine breakthroughs.

This year there have been calls for the word ’empire’ to be dropped from honours in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests and ongoing controversy over Britain’s colonial past.

However, officials said there were no plans to remove it. They stressed that this year’s list was the most diverse in its history, with 14 per cent of all awards going to people from black and ethnic minority communities.

Knighthood for sacked Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC… and a £1million Conservative Party donor

 By GLEN KEOGH for the Daily Mail

Former Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC was awarded a knighthood yesterday, despite being sacked from the Cabinet by Boris Johnson earlier this year.

The MP and barrister reportedly provoked the wrath of the Prime Minister ahead of his reshuffle in February.

He also faced controversy last year when, as Britain’s most senior legal officer, he advised the Government that Parliament could be prorogued – only for the decision to be overturned by the Supreme Court.

Mr Cox also spoke at Mr Johnson’s launch to become Conservative Party leader. Guy Weston, a major donor of at least £1million to the party, is knighted for his services to philanthropy and charity. 

Mr Weston is from one of Britain’s richest families, with their wealth estimated at £10.5billion by the Sunday Times earlier this year due to stakes in companies including Primark and Fortnum and Mason.

Lynne Owens, head of the National Crime Agency, was awarded a damehood for services to law enforcement, despite criticism over the appointment of the police chief behind Scotland Yard’s disastrous VIP abuse inquiry as her deputy.

Steve Rodhouse became Mrs Owens’s £245,000-a-year number two despite being savaged by a former High Court judge for his role in the Met’s £2.5million Operation Midland investigation into bogus claims of a Westminster paedophile ring. 

Mark Bowman, the Treasury mandarin responsible for negotiating Britain’s £38million Brexit ‘divorce bill’ payment to Brussels, was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. 

Labour heavyweights were also handed gongs. Angela Eagle, an MP since 1992, becomes a dame. She resigned from the frontbench as shadow business secretary in 2016 over Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

Tom Clarke, was awarded a knighthood aged 79 in recognition of his long parliamentary career which includes serving the Scottish constituency of Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill for more than 30 years.

There was also an award for Dave Lewis, the former chief executive of Tesco, who was knighted after turning round the supermarket’s fortunes after the company was forced to admit it had overstated profits by £250million in 2014.

There was also a damehood for Irene Hays, co-founder of Hays Travel, the UK’s largest independent travel agent, for services to training, education and young people.

The company saved thousands of jobs when it acquired all Thomas Cook stores last year following the travel giant’s collapse.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of industry body UKHospitality, was given an OBE after a year which has seen the sector hit by mass closures and redundancies. 

And Professor Paul Cosford, emeritus medical director of Public Health England was knighted, having spoken candidly in recent months of his diagnosis of incurable lung cancer.

Parents of girl, 15, who died after suffering allergic reaction to a Pret baguette on a BA flight say they are ‘humbled’ to accept OBEs in her memory for charity work following her death

 By JACK ELSOM for MailOnline

The parents of a 15-year-old girl who died from a severe allergic reaction after eating a Pret a Manger baguette have been awarded OBEs in the New Year’s Honours list. 

Tanya and Nadim Ednan-Laperouse said they were ‘humbled’ to accept their awards in the name of their ‘beloved’ Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who collapsed on a BA flight to Nice on July 17, 2016. 

Natasha, from Fulham, west London, died of anaphylaxis after unknowingly eating sesame contained in an artichoke, olive and tapenade baguette she had bought at Heathrow Airport. 

Her mother and father, who have since set up the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation and successfully lobbied ministers for improved labelling of products, are being recognised by the Queen for their services to charity and people with allergic disease. 

In a statement, they said: ‘We are humbled and honoured to accept these awards in the name of our beloved daughter Natasha.

‘Natasha was a passionate believer in social justice and the bright torch that she carried for others inspires us every day.’ 

The foundation aims to establish a research centre at the University of Southampton to find a cure for allergies, and has already donated £400,000 to train scientists.

Mr and Mrs Ednan-Laperouse hope it will support scientists to prevent ‘more unnecessary’ deaths and hospitalisations through severe allergic reactions, and ‘ultimately we hope to help eradicate allergic disease from this planet’.

The foundation was set up to fund and harness allergy medical breakthroughs, support academic and industry research and develop new therapies that will offer hope for effective allergy treatments and work towards finding a cure.

The parents have also managed to win new protections for food allergy sufferers under the introduction of ‘Natasha’s Law’.

It will require all businesses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to include full ingredients labelling on pre-packaged food. 

The couple said: ‘Natasha’s Law comes into force in October 2021, ending the legal loophole that cost our daughter her life.

‘It will help save many other lives. Yet that is only the beginning of our journey.’ 

The coroner ruled Natasha had been ‘reassured’ by the lack of allergen information on the Pret baguette packaging. 

While supermarket sandwiches are required to list the full ingredients on the packaging, those prepared in the store currently have no such requirement. 

Two centenarians lead roll call of national heroes in New Year Honours – with one becoming the oldest person on record to be recognised

By VANESSA ALLEN for the Daily Mail 

Two centenarians led a roll call of national heroes in the New Year Honours.

Anne Baker, 106, became the oldest person on record to receive an honour, after she dedicated 60 years to charity fundraising.

Ruth Saunders, 104, was recognised after she walked a marathon to raise money for the Thames Valley Air Ambulance. 

They both received MBEs in a New Year Honours list that celebrated the work of some 800 community champions and volunteers.

More than 230 people were recognised for their efforts in combating the effects of the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns and isolation.

Mrs Baker, from Salisbury, Wiltshire, has volunteered for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) for more than 60 years.

She said it was a ‘great surprise and a great honour’ to receive an MBE. 

While Mrs Saunders, of Newbury, Berkshire, took almost two months to complete her walking marathon after she was inspired by the efforts of Captain Sir Tom Moore, who raised £32million for the NHS in the run-up to his 100th birthday.

The former Red Cross nurse and great-grandmother walked 130 laps of her garden to cover the 26.2 miles and said it had helped to ease her arthritis. She raised almost £39,000.

The list honoured many frontline NHS workers for their tireless work during the pandemic, such as Carol Doggett, 51, head of nursing at Morriston Hospital in Swansea, South Wales.

Mrs Doggett, a nurse since 1987, transformed the hospital’s critical care capacity from 28 beds to 117 in just three weeks at the start of the pandemic.

She and her team treated hundreds of patients including 13 of their own colleagues at the hospital trust. She said she was ‘overwhelmed’ to learn she would receive an MBE, and dedicated the honour to her team and their patients.

Another nurse, Catherine Fitzsimmons, 62, had retired from NHS nursing after 41 years but returned to Salford Royal Hospital in Greater Manchester in April.

She helped her team to set up online calls for families who could not go into hospitals to visit critically ill relatives, and said she felt ‘extremely honoured and very, very emotional’ to receive a British Empire Medal.

St John Ambulance paramedic Richard Royce Lee, 49, will receive an MBE after he worked seven-day weeks for the first two months of the pandemic in Caerphilly, Gwent.

EasyJet Captain Emma Henderson, 47, from Kinloss, in Moray, Scotland, will also get an MBE after she co-founded Project Wingman, which set up care lounges inside 80 hospitals to help NHS staff.

Other recipients included Kate Dawson, 54, who was given an OBE for helping to make scrubs for the NHS in Ashington, Northumberland.

Entrepreneur Manoj Varsani was made an MBE for setting up the voluntary organisation SOS Supplies to help plug gaps in supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care staff.