The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan he is understood to receive a knighthood in the new year’s honors list, along with other senior politicians who will also be honoured.
Khan, the first Muslim mayor of an EU capital when he was elected in 2016, is expected to be honored for political and public service after working for more than 20 years as Labor politician, first as MP for Tooting, followed by his mayoral role.
Khan will be joined by other senior Labor MPs Conservatives who either stepped down or lost their seats in the last election.
The news that Khan could be knighted alongside other politicians was first reported in the Financial Times.
Emily Thornberry is reportedly in line for a lady role as she is the only member of Starmer’s shadow cabinet not to have been given a government role.
She is now on the backbench and chairs the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. It is believed that the honor will be in addition to her title of Lady Nugee, which she uses because of her husband’s knighthood.
Former trade secretary and health minister Patricia Hewitt is also expected to be honored.
But it is not just Labor politicians who will receive honours, with Andy Street, the former Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, expected to be on the draft list.
Street lost the mayoralty in a very close race in the local elections in May.
Ranil Jayawardena, environment minister under Liz Truss and Marcus Jones, who are both running for their seats in the general election, are also expected to be honoured.
Jones was deputy chief whip during Rishi Sunak’s premiership.
Nick Gibb, a Tory MP who has served as schools minister in three appointments, will be another knighthood recipient.
The Cabinet Office said: “We do not comment on speculation about honours.”
In October, former Tory ministers Sir David Davies and Sir Gavin Williamson received knighthoods for their public service.
At the time, Labor politicians condemned the honour, including Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who tweeted: “Reward for failure. Shameless.”