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Charlie Osborne
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Former British PM blocked knighthood for Steve Jobs

By | March 1, 2011, 6:40am PST

Summary: Steve Jobs was reportedly denied a knighthood by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, to be presented by the Queen, for turning down an offer to speak at a party political conference.

Gordon Brown, former prime minister, refused to give Apple founder Steve Jobs an honorary knighthood, in retaliation for Jobs turning down an offer to speak at Brown’s party political conference.

The former Labour MP who put forward Jobs to receive the award from the Queen for services to technology, said that “no other CEO has consistently shown such a commitment” to the creation of stunning consumer products.

A knighthood in the realm of the Commonwealth is one of the highest honours available to ordinary citizens. As Jobs is not a resident or citizen of the Commonwealth, he is only allowed to receive an honorary knighthood, as Bill Gates did in 2005.

For non-Commonwealth citizens however, the knighthood is the highest honour available from the state to the citizen.

Whether Jobs wanted to keep politics out of his business or his face out of politics - or even if Jobs doesn’t support the Labour party, it is unclear.

Though he wouldn’t have been able to call himself ‘Sir Steve’, the honour is still highly sought after and only available to a handful per year.

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Topics

Steve Jobs, Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, a criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, Canterbury, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

Disclosure

Zack Whittaker

I worked briefly with Microsoft UK in 2006 but no longer have any connection with the company. Regardless, I remain impartial and unbiased in my views.

I don't hold any stock or shares, investments or industrial secrets in any company, but have signed confidentiality agreements with a number of UK and U.S. organisations, whose names I am not at liberty to disclose.

I was involved with Kent Union, the University of Kent's student union, undertaking voluntary, non-salaried, elected positions between early 2009 and mid-2010.

No other company, body, government department, non-governmental organisation or third sector organisation employs me or pays me a salary in any capacity whatsoever.

As a freelance journalist, whenever expenses are given and taken by a company that is not CBS Interactive, these will be disclosed in each relevant post to ensure transparency.

I currently work with a UK law enforcement unit, but this is an entirely separate position which bears no connection to other work.

(Updated: 23rd October 2011)

Biography

Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, UK, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

After studying criminology at university, though still in his early-20's, he has already had a series unconventional work and voluntary positions. He has worked with researchers studying neurological illnesses like Tourette's syndrome (which he suffers from), has given lectures on the nature of disabilities in the public community, and occasionally ends up speaking on television and radio discussing the events of the day.

He first had academic work published at the age of 22, then still an undergraduate, and has been cited by a wide range of publications: from the Huffington Post, Business Insider, AllThingsDigital, The Atlantic Wire and CBS News.

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RE: Former British PM blocked knighthood for Steve Jobs
JACOBSONR 14th Oct
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RE: Former British PM blocked knighthood for Steve Jobs
mrlinux 1st Mar 2011
Well that was pretty petty of Gordon
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Reagan was given one of these things
Tech watcher 1st Mar 2011
after his administration sided with Thatcher's government over the Falklands/Malvinas conflict.

As prestigious as this honor may be, it still has aristocratic trappings that do not agree with American sensibilities. Here in the US, the highest civilian honor is appropriately called the Congressional Medal of Freedom.
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If an award is held hostage to individual political whims and prejudices
kenosha77a 1st Mar 2011
Then the award has lost a great deal of honor, integrity and importance.
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RE: Former British PM blocked knighthood for Steve Jobs
hoaxoner 1st Mar 2011
So, let me get this straight. England wants to knight a person who makes shiny toys. And in the process of making those shiny toys, commits a number of health and labor offenses. Nice work England.
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Britain has a problem
John L. Ries 1st Mar 2011
Tony Blair was frequently accused of manipulating the honors system for partisan political reasons; this report suggests that Gordon Brown did the same (hopefully, David Cameron isn't following their example). If it's become standard operating procedure for British Prime Ministers to play these sorts of games, then perhaps the best way to clean up the system would be to allow the Queen to award knighthoods entirely at her own discretion (British monarchs have had such discretion on appointments to the Order of the Garter since the 1940s and it seems to work well), possibly advised by a specially constituted Privy Council committee on which incumbent politicians would hold no more than 1/4 of the seats (evenly divided between government and opposition).

Since the awarding of knighthoods really has nothing to do with public policy, I don't think it would in any way undermine democracy or responsible government for ministers to recuse themselves from the process.
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