Former Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has been given a knighthood.
The gaffe-prone Tory, who presided over the Covid exams chaos and was sacked by Theresa May as Defence Secretary, has been handed the top gong, No10 said.
Downing Street said: "The Queen has been pleased to approve that the honour of Knighthood be conferred upon The Rt. Hon. Gavin Williamson CBE MP."
The decision to ennoble the twice-sacked minister triggered fury from MPs.
Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi quipped: "Presumably it's for services to failure in managing two sets of exam results?"
Liberal Democrat Education spokeswoman Munira Wilson said the only award he should receive was "worst Education Secretary in history".
Mr Williamson was said to be in line for a knighthood earlier this year to keep him quiet as Boris Johnson battled to regain control after a slew of Partygate revelations.
Ex-No10 chief of staff Gavin Barwell also claimed last year that Mr Williamson had vowed to unleash “the world’s biggest s**tshow” on the Government when he was fighting for his job as Defence Secretary in 2019.
Mr Williamson was sacked as Education Secretary in Boris Johnson's last reshuffle after coming under intense criticism over his handling of the education brief during the pandemic.
He came under fire for the 2020 exams chaos and repeated U-turns over free school meals policy, which saw the Government shamed into feeding children over the holidays by footballer Marcus Rashford.
He then hit the headlines in September by confusing Rashford with another black sportsman, the rugby player Maro Itoje.
Mr Williamson was also sacked as Defence Secretary by Theresa May in 2019 after he was accused of leaking details of a top secret National Security Council meeting.
Before his sacking, he famously said “Russia should go away and should shut up" during the fallout from the Salisbury nerve agent attack.
But he was brought back into the Cabinet when Mr Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019.
Mr Williamson acted Chief Whip from 2016 to 2017, where he was notorious for intimidating MPs with his pet tarantula called Cronus.
Tory defector Christian Wakeford, who recently crossed the floor to join Labour, accused Mr Williamson of threatening to pull funding from a school in his constituency if he rebelled on a key vote.
The Bury South MP claimed the alleged confrontation took place ahead of a vote on a Labour motion to extend free school meals during holidays.
Mr Williamson told the Times: "I don’t have any recollection of the conversation as described but what I do remember is working tirelessly with Christian and others in order to be able to deliver this school, which I did.
“Such major investment decisions are made after close analysis of the benefits that the investment will bring and certainly not something that can be decided in a brief conversation like the one described.”
Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said his record in Government was "disgraceful".
“Gavin Williamson left children to go hungry, created two years of complete chaos over exams and failed to get laptops out to kids struggling to learn during lockdowns," she said.
"His record is astonishing and disgraceful. Boris Johnson is proving again it’s one rule for him and his mates and another for the rest of us.
“This shows utter contempt for the challenges children and education staff have faced during the pandemic.”
Lib Dem Munira Wilson branded the honour "an insult" to children, families and teachers.
She said: “He failed to get laptops to children who needed them, sleepwalked into the exam crisis and caused chaos for parents and teachers over getting children back to school. People across the country will be outraged at this reward for his abysmal failures.
“It is an insult to every child, parent and teacher who struggled through Covid against the odds. It shows this government only cares about those at the top.”
No 10, asked why the knighthood was being announced now and not part of an honours list, said it was a political appointment by the Conservative Party.
