The Queen’s birthday honours list, in which actor Emma Thompson was made a dame, has been partially overshadowed by a row over the decorating of Network Rail’s outgoing boss.

Mark Carne was awarded a CBE at a time when passengers have been facing huge disruption to their journeys.

The Department for Transport admitted the timing of the honour for Carne was “unfortunate”, while insisting the recent problems should not detract from his overall record.

Manuel Cortes, the general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, likened it to “rewarding the captain of the Titanic for jumping ship”.

Labour MP Lisa Nandy called for the honour to be withdrawn. “There’s absolutely no way that the government should press ahead with this award,” she said.

She told The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4 that the decision was another kick in the teeth for rail travellers and should be withdrawn. “It’s the most astonishing thing to have happened in a week when commuters have been suffering from rail chaos,” she said.

Thompson, who is one of Britain’s best loved actors, has been made a dame, adding to a long list of awards including Oscars, Baftas, Golden Globes and Emmys.

The damehood awarded to the classicist Mary Beard is likely to prove more popular. The Cambridge professor, author and TV presenter described it as a “smashing honour” and attributed it to growing interest in her field of work.

“I feel especially pleased that someone working on the ancient classical world gets honoured in this way,” she said. “I’d like to treat it as a bit of a tribute to the Greeks and Romans themselves, as well as to all my wonderful academic colleagues who also do so much for the study of antiquity.”

The actors Keira Knightley and Tom Hardy are awarded an OBE and CBE respectively.

The author Kazuo Ishiguro, whose works include The Remains of the Day, the film adaptation of which starred Thompson, is knighted for his services to literature. He said he was “deeply touched to receive this honour from the nation that welcomed me as a small foreign boy”.

The rapper and singer Ms Dynamite is honoured with an MBE, under her real name Niomi McLean-Daley, for services to music, 16 years after winning the Mercury prize, while the Mobo awards founder Kanya King receives a CBE for services to music and culture.

Among the sporting stars honoured is the England striker Jermain Defoe, who described himself as “blessed and humbled” to be recognised with an OBE for his services to the charitable foundation set up in his name. Liverpool and Celtic legend Kenny Dalglish is awarded a knighthood.

The world heavyweight champion boxer Anthony Joshua is also made an OBE, for services to sport, and the 20-year-old alpine skier Menna Fitzpatrick, Britain’s most successful winter Paralympian, is awarded an MBE.

After the wave of terror attacks in the UK in 2017, the former assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Mark Rowley, who led the national response, receives a knighthood.

While there are no honours for those involved in the response to the Grenfell Tower fire, the cabinet has said it expects “acts of bravery and extraordinary community spirit” that emerged from the tragedy to feature on future lists.

The second world war nurse Rosemary Powell, at 103, is the oldest person honoured, receiving an MBE for voluntary service to the Royal British Legion poppy appeal, having spent 97 years collecting for the charity.



The Holocaust survivor Ber Helfgott, also known as Ben, is knighted for services to Holocaust remembrance and education, one of nearly three-quarters on the list deemed to have undertaken outstanding work in or for their local community.

Forty-nine per cent of the honourees are women, and 10% are from BAME backgrounds.

Akeela Ahmed, who founded the online platform She Speaks We Hear, is made an MBE for services to Muslim women. She said she hoped her award would challenge stereotypes and “silence the haters”.