Tainted New Year Honours: Knighthood for Tory donor who made millions from credit crunch and CBE for jailed tycoon

Ex-convict Gerald Ronson and Conservative Party supporter Paul Ruddock both honoured

David Cameron accused of being 'out of touch' with decent British people

Government source says Prime Minister has no personal involvement in deciding who receives honours

Founder of online gambling company bet365 also appointed OBE



A disgraced property tycoon and a hedge fund trader who cashed in on the credit crunch are both in the New Year Honours list.

Ex-convict Gerald Ronson – the great survivor of the Guinness share-trading scandal – is made a CBE. And there is a knighthood for Tory donor Paul Ruddock, who has given more than £500,000 to party coffers since 2003.

His firm, Lansdowne Partners, made a staggering £100million from the financial crash by betting that the price of Northern Rock shares would fall and also made millions in a matter of days by predicting the likely slide of other banking shares.



Controversial: Ex-convict Gerald Ronson, pictured left with wife Gail, is appointed CBE while Tory donor Paul Ruddock, right, is to be knighted



The honours sparked a cross-party war of words, with Labour accusing David Cameron of cronyism, but Downing Street insisting that the Prime Minister had nothing to do with the decisions.

Michael Dugher, Labour's Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, said: 'David Cameron promised to clean up politics, but in office he has shown he is utterly out of touch with decent British people. He is giving a knighthood to Paul Ruddock, who made millions from the collapse of Northern Rock and has given over £500,000 to the Tories.



'This tells you everything you need to know about the Tories' priorities. When millions of families are struggling to get by, it's the Tories' friends in the City who get the rewards.'

A member of the Treasury Select Committee, John Mann, described the knighthood for Mr Ruddock as a 'disgrace'. The Labour MP for Bassetlaw said: 'The country is sick to death of bankers getting knighthoods from successive governments.

'It is extraordinary that when there are so many hard working people who have done a lot for this country, it is people who have caused us so many problems that are getting awarded. Small business owners who went under and people who lost their jobs when Northern Rock failed will be extremely angry.'

A Government source stressed that the Prime Minister has no personal involvement in deciding who receives honours and dismissed any suggestion of impropriety. The decision, said the source, was taken by an independent committee in recognition of Mr Ruddock's commitment to the arts.

Donating to a political party is not a bar to an honour but the independent committee is made aware of any donations.

Within Government there was anger at Labour's decision to try to make political capital out of the issue, not least because former Capita boss Rod Aldridge, who has given Labour £1million, is knighted in today's list.

Jailed: Gerald Ronson, left, during his time inside Ford Prison is the great survivor of the Guinness share-trading scandal

No decision to make: A Government source said that the Prime Minister has no personal involvement in deciding who receives honours

A Government source said: 'This criticism is pretty rich, coming from a Labour government that gave Fred Goodwin a knighthood – they should wind their necks in.'

Others from the business world whose honours might raise eyebrows include Denise Coates, founder and chief executive of the online gambling company bet365. She receives the CBE for services to the community and business.

The daughter of Stoke City FC owner Peter Coates, she has a £750million fortune and was this year ranked the eighth-richest woman in the Sunday Times Rich List.

Property tycoon and philanthropist Ronson, 72, who was jailed in 1990 for his part in the Guinness scam, has been honoured for services to charity. It is rare for a former prisoner to be bestowed with such an honour.

Indeed, one of his co-defendants, the late Jack Lyons, was stripped of his knighthood after they were convicted along with two other top City figures. Lyons, who was spared a 30-month term because of his poor health, was knighted by the 1973 Conservative government and had his title taken away by John Major.



Proud moment: Those people on the New Year Honours list will enjoy a day at Buckingham Palace

Ronson founded Heron Group – now Heron International Plc – when he was 17, brought self-service petrol stations to the UK in 1960s and was once the 14th-richest person in Britain and worth £548million.

In 1990 he was, with Lyons, Ernest Saunders and Anthony Parnes, convicted over Guinness's £2.7billion takeover of the Scottish drinks group Distillers.

The fraud had the effect of boosting the Guinness share price. As it rose, the group's offer to Distillers' shareholders increased in value, helping Guinness fend off a bid from rival Argyll and secure the deal.

Ronson was convicted of conspiring to create a false market, false accounting and one of theft. He was fined £5million and sentenced to a year, but freed after six months for good behaviour.

He has always protested his innocence, saying he did not knowingly act dishonestly.

A father of four, he is also the uncle of chart-topping musician Mark Ronson.

He has raised more than £100million for, and donated more than £30million to, charities such as the Community Security Trust, NSPCC, the Prince's Trust and Jewish Care.

Asked if Ronson's conviction had any influence over the decision to award him a CBE, a Cabinet Office spokesman said every nomination for an honour was considered on its own merits.

Other former prisoners to be honoured in the past include footballer Tony Adams, who was jailed for drink-driving in 1990 and made an MBE 14 years later. And Mick Jagger was knighted in 2002, 35 years after being jailed for possessing drugs. The sentence was reduced on appeal to a conditional discharge.

Paul Ruddock, 53, becomes a Knight Bachelor for services to the arts in today's honours list.

During the credit crunch in 2007 and 2008 the activities of 'short sellers' enraged politicians who were trying to shore up plunging bank shares.

Many observers blamed the practice – based on traders selling stock, allowing the price to fall and then buying it back – for the bailout funded by taxpayers.

Short-sellers were accused of targeting Halifax owner HBOS in particular before it was rescued by Lloyds and then the taxpayer.

Mr Ruddock has given £551,598.42 to the Tories since 2003. He is one of the City's wealthiest men, with a fortune estimated at £280million.

Among his philanthropic work, he is chairman of the Victoria and Albert Museum, for which he has helped raise more than £120million.

And I dub thee, Sir Big Brother

Delighted: Peter Bazalgette, the man who brought Big Brother to UK screens, has been given a knighthood for services to broadcasting

Peter Bazalgette has the dubious distinction of being the man who brought Big Brother – the epitome of downmarket reality TV – to UK screens.

Despite what many will regard as a less than enriching contribution to British life, the media executive has been given a knighthood for services to broadcasting.

The 58-year-old was also credited with being instrumental in the rise of lifestyle and make-over shows, having been behind series such as Ground Force, Changing Rooms and Ready Steady Cook.

Yesterday Baz, as he is known within the TV industry, said the honour was a ‘delightful compliment’.

Bazalgette, great great grandson of civil engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette, oversaw the launch, and several series, of Big Brother for Endemol as well as shows such as Fame Academy, Restoration and Deal Or No Deal.

While he did not invent the format for Big Brother he was credited with playing a major part in making the show a success.

During his time at the company the reality series was involved in a number of controversies including showing a couple apparently having sex, albeit under the covers, on Teen Big Brother in 2003.

Five years ago, in the ‘celebrity’ version of the show, viewers were treated to the dubious privilege of seeing maverick MP George Galloway dressed in a cat costume and as a vampire, while more recent participants include Sally Bercow, wife of the Commons Speaker.

One critic has accused Bazalgette of doing more to ‘debase’ TV over the past decade than anyone else.

In recent years he has acted largely as a consultant to the TV industry and for digital media.

He has also written about the business of TV formats, with his book Billion Dollar Game published in 2005.

Bazalgette said he viewed the award as an acknowledgment of the work of independent TV production firms.

After graduating from Cambridge University, Bazalgette joined the BBC’s news trainee scheme, moving on to become a researcher for That’s Life and then a reporter for Man Alive. Moving behind the cameras, he produced the long-running series Food And Drink before setting up his own company Bazal, later to be absorbed into the Dutch TV giant Endemol.

He went on to become Endemol’s chief creative officer, leaving the company in 2007.

Bazalgette is president of the Royal Television Society, deputy chairman of English National Opera and the National Film and Television School, and has served on the board of Channel 4.

In January this year he was made a non-executive director to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for his ‘business acumen’ and ‘particular insight into a broad spectrum of media issues’.

Another successful TV executive, Paul Smith, the man behind Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, is made a CBE.