Cash-for-honours case may be to blame for lack of glitz in Blair's second-last list

Published on Saturday 16 June 2007 00:50

CRICKET legend Ian Botham and the novelist Salman Rushdie are knighted today in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

Honours have also been bestowed on Scots from all walks of life, from senior political leaders to local charity workers.

Sir Ian "Beefy" Botham, who took 383 Test wickets and scored more than 5,000 runs for England, said he was delighted at the award, which was bestowed for his numerous charity walks for leukaemia research, including several between John o' Groats and Land's End.

He is not the only cancer campaigner honoured today. Jane Tomlinson, who has terminal cancer, has raised 1.5 million for charity with a series of gruelling triathlons, marathons and long-distance cycle rides. Her MBE has been upgraded to CBE.

Sir Salman, best known for The Satanic Verses - which drew a fatwa from Iran - said he was "thrilled and humbled and very grateful".

Tony Blair's penultimate honours list - he will propose another as he resigns later this month - is remarkably short of the sort of showbiz glamour that has characterised some of his government's nominations.

That may reflect a reluctance by some public figures to accept awards from a government still subject to a police inquiry into cash-for-honours allegations.

Persistent Whitehall rumours have suggested that the Prime Minister's team struggled to find high-profile names for the list.

The most flamboyant celebrity honoured is surely Barry Humphries. The entertainer is awarded a CBE. "I'm deeply honoured. At last I can address Sir Les Patterson and Dame Edna Everage on an improved footing," he said, referring to his infamous comic alter egos.

Peter Sallis, 86, the Last of the Summer Wine actor who provides the voice of Gromit in the Wallace and Gromit films, is made an OBE.

Nicky Clarke, one of the original celebrity hairdressers, is also awarded an OBE.

One of the more surprising political awards is a CBE for Shami Chakrabarti, the director of civil rights group Liberty and an outspoken critic of the government's anti-terrorism strategy. "I hope it will send a timely signal that democratic dissent is not disloyalty," she said.

In a move that may anger government critics, Martin Howard, a senior Ministry of Defence official, is made a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

Mr Howard, as deputy director of defence intelligence, was centrally involved in the 2002 Downing Street dossier claiming Iraq held weapons of mass destruction, and has been accused of suppressing reports from analysts questioning the dossier's assertions.

Another notable figure from the intelligence world, Oleg Gordievsky, the highest-ranking Soviet spy to defect to the West, is appointed a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (CMG) - the honour held by James Bond.

The Scot given the greatest honour is Charlie Gray, 78, a councillor for 49 years, who is awarded a knighthood. He once led Strathclyde Regional Council and was education convener at North Lanarkshire Council until he stood down in May.

He described his knighthood as "a very special honour".

The former Scottish Prison Service chief executive, Tony Cameron, is made a Companion of the Order of the Bath, and Barbara Kelly, a former chairman of the Scottish Consumer Council, becomes a dame.

Tayside Chief Constable John Vine, whose force was responsible for policing at the Gleneagles G8 summit two years ago, is awarded a CBE.

Audrey Findlay, a member of Aberdeenshire Council for 19 years and a former leader, becomes a CBE.

The Crimestoppers Scotland chairman, Neil McCulloch, and William McKinlay, the governor-in-charge at Glasgow's Barlinnie prison, receive OBEs.

Eleanor Bowman, the mother of Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman, becomes an MBE for charitable services.

Tommy Gilmour, 55, becomes an MBE for services to boxing. Seen as Scotland's most successful promoter and manager, he has been involved in promoting 24 world title fights.

Dunfermline Athletic Football Club's Jim Leishman, becomes an MBE. Mr Leishman, 53, signed as a schoolboy for the club in 1968. He was later to return, first as director of football and then as manager towards the end of the 2004-05 season, saving the club from relegation.

He stepped down from that role in October, to become director of football again.

Honours also go to Ryan Giggs of Manchester United and Wales, and Teddy Sheringham, of Tottenham and England.

But despite recent feverish speculation at Westminster, David Beckham, the former England football captain, does not receive a knighthood today.

MBE FOR SHOWBUSINESS VETERAN - IT'S "MR BEATTIE, ENTERTAINER"

VETERAN comedian Johnny Beattie could not resist cracking a joke about being awarded his MBE - quipping that it probably stood for "Mr Beattie, Entertainer".

The 80-year-old performer, actor and singer has been recognised for his services to entertainment and charity.

Since leaving a shipyard job as an electrician, his showbusiness career has spanned more than 55 years and is still going strong - the widowed father-of-four plays pensioner Malcolm Hamilton in BBC soap River City.

Mr Beattie said he would have to try and stop making jokes during his visit to Buckingham Palace.

"It's very nice, and I am very happy about it," he said. "It was a lovely surprise."

As well as performing on stage and television, he has also raised thousands of pounds for charity. One of his current favourite causes is St Margaret's Hospice in Glasgow, which helps terminally ill cancer patients.

JOE COCKER'S OBE SURPRISE

JOE Cocker did not expect an honour as he had lived "too long" in the US.

Once a gas fitter, the gritty-voiced singer rose in the early Sixties touring Sheffield pubs. He had his first UK hit in 1968 with the Beatles song With A Little Help From My Friends.

It was "a genuine surprise", he said, to get an OBE for services to music.