Former education secretary given a knighthood after being sacked twice...

[dutchman]

Gavin Williamson was sacked from both Boris Johnson and Theresa May's cabinets



Former education secretary Gavin Williamson has been given a knighthood, Downing Street said.

The MP for South Staffordshire was sacked by Boris Johnson during his September 2021 cabinet reshuffle.

Mr Williamson was education secretary during most of the pandemic, when he came under heavy criticism for cancelling A-levels and GCSEs two years in a row and for closing schools.

A Downing Street statement said: "The Queen has been pleased to approve that the honour of Knighthood be conferred upon The Rt. Hon. Gavin Williamson CBE MP."

No 10 did not say when he will be knighted.

Mr Williamson was first elected in 2010 under David Cameron's second government and served as his parliamentary private secretary in 2013.

He was Theresa May's chief whip in 2016 and 2017 - when he kept a tarantula called Cronus in his office - before being made defence secretary.

In 2019, Mr Williamson lost his defence job after there was a leak from the National Security Council, although he has always denied leaking information about Huawei's potential involvement in the UK's 5G network.

He supported Mr Johnson's campaign to succeed Mrs May as Tory leader and was returned to the cabinet as education secretary when Mr Johnson became PM.

[rebbonk]

Yet more reward for failing.