Two of Keir Starmer’s closest allies have been named in the new year honours list.
The former international development minister Anneliese Dodds, who resigned in February this year, has been named a dame and Jonathan Ashworth, who led the Labour Together thinktank until July, a CBE.
Dodds is one of Starmer’s oldest parliamentary allies. He made her the shadow chancellor when he was elected as Labour leader in April 2020, but replaced her with Rachel Reeves in May 2021 during a reshuffle after a crushing by-election defeat in Hartlepool.
In government Dodds served as development and equalities minister, but resigned in February over plans to cut international aid to fund an increase in defence spending. She has been the MP for Oxford East since 2017.
Ashworth served in the shadow cabinet for the entirety of Starmer’s time as leader of the opposition, but unexpectedly lost his seat in the July 2024 general election to the independent candidate Shockat Adam. He had represented Leicester South since 2011.
After the election Ashworth took up a role heading the influential thinktank Labour Together, which is closely associated with Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and has been credited with steering his campaign to become leader of the opposition.
The thinktank came under scrutiny this year after the Conservatives raised questions over whether the support Starmer received from Labour Together had been correctly declared. The thinktank was fined by the Electoral Commission in 2021 for failing to properly register almost £740,000 in donations, which it blamed on an administrative error.
Ashworth, who was shadow health secretary during the Covid-19 pandemic, was recognised for political and parliamentary service and for his charity work on behalf of the children of alcoholics.
He has spoken publicly of his experience growing up with an alcoholic father and is a patron of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics, which he says had been working over Christmas to help children living with parental alcohol abuse.
Dodds said she was delighted to have received a damehood, adding: “It’s always about the team – from my MP’s staff to civil servants to party staff, and everyone who makes Oxford East such an amazing place.”
Ashworth, who also served as shadow work and pensions secretary under Starmer, said he was “completely bowled over” by the award. “It was never something I expected,” he said.
“I especially hope this also brings greater recognition for every child who grows up in the shadow of alcoholism. Speaking up for the thousands of children who suffer in silence is something that matters deeply to me, shaped by my own experiences growing up.”
Sarah Clarke, parliament’s former Black Rod – the senior officer responsible for ceremonial protocol during events such as the state opening – has also been awarded a damehood. She was the first woman to become Black Rod in the 669-year history of the role, and left the post in July after more than seven years.
Other political figures who received awards included Adam Ingram, who has been made a knight after serving as the Labour MP for East Kilbride from 1987 to 2010, including as Northern Ireland minister and armed forces minister under Tony Blair.
Chris Ruane, the former Welsh Labour MP for the Vale of Clwyd who who helped set up a mindfulness programme in Westminster for parliamentarians and staffers in 2013, has also been made an OBE for “parliamentary and political service and to wellbeing”.
