Social media was awash with reaction last night after Gavin Williamson was handed a knighthood by Boris Johnson.
Downing Street said on Thursday that the Queen has approved the honour for the Tory MP, who was widely criticised for a series of errors as education secretary.
The prime minister sacked Mr Williamson from that role in September and he was previously dumped as defence secretary following an inquiry into a leak from the National Security Council.
It was understood the knighthood was being given to the 45-year-old who helped run Mr Johnson’s successful 2019 campaign to succeed Theresa May as Tory leader on the basis of his political and public service.
“Reward for failure”
Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting tweeted: “Reward for failure. Shameless.”
A gathering held in the education department under his watch during Covid restrictions was investigated by senior civil servant Sue Gray, but was ultimately not part of the police inquiry.
Mr Williamson, the MP for South Staffordshire, reportedly gave a short speech at the event on December 10 2020, while London was under Tier 2 measures banning social mixing between households.
He clung on as education secretary for more than two years despite being battered by repeated calls for his resignation.
His handling of disruption to schools during the height of the pandemic and the grading of GCSEs and A-levels after exams were cancelled was widely seen as disastrous.
He was also criticised for confusing free school meals campaigning footballer Marcus Rashford with England rugby star Maro Itoje. Both men are black.
Reaction
Needless to say, reaction to the news on social media has been pretty fierce.
Here’s what people had to say.
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