North West leaders recognised in 2021 New Year Honours

Key workers and others on the frontline of the fight against Covid-19 have been recognised in the 2021 New Year Honours List.

Medical professionals, public sector staff and food retailers from across the North West are prominent among the 1,239 recipients this year.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “In a year when so many have made sacrifices to protect our NHS and save people’s lives, the outstanding efforts of those receiving honours today are a welcome reminder of the strength of human spirit, and of what can be achieved through courage and compassion.”

Co-op Food chief executive Jo Whitfield receives a CBE and Nick Speight, head of HR at the Co-operative Group, receives an MBE.

Food retailers were well recognised nationally, with former Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis, Ocado chief executive Melanie Smith and a handful of more junior staff from Asda and Morrisons receiving awards. Ricky Sercombe, a Lancashire-based data technologist at food group Brakes, is awarded an MBE.

There were relatively few business people recognised in the 2021 list, continuing a trend of recent years.

Dawn Cheetham

Former North & Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce president Dawn Cheetham received an MBE for services to business and the the community, while marine specialist Peter Barham and Mersey Maritime chief executive Chris Shirling-Rooke receive MBEs for services to the maritime sector.

Nationally, Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones and Small Business Britain founder Michelle Ovens now have CBEs to go with their MBEs.

Recipients from the worlds of sport and popular culture are also less prominent than usual, although F1 champion Lewis Hamilton is knighted and actress Shiela Hancock is made a dame. There is an MBE for actress Sally Dyvenor, best known for her role as Sally Webster in Coronation Street, and an OBE for Liverpool-born sports administrator Brian Barwick, who has been the chief executive of the Football Association and chairman of the Rugby Football League, and is currently president of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.

Brian Barwick

Four professors from the region’s universities have been included in the honours list.

Prof Rachel Griffith, professor of economics at the University of Manchester and a research director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, has been made a Dame.

There are OBEs for Prof Dhiya Al-Jumeily, professor of artificial intelligence at Liverpool John Moores University, and Prof Joy Duxbury, professor of mental health at Manchester Metropolitan University, and an MBE for Prof Laurence Alison, director of the National Centre for the Study of Critical Incident Decision Making at University of Liverpool.

Also in the education sector, there is a CBE for David Wootton, managing director of Cheshire-based Wootton Education, OBEs for Oldham College chief executive Alun Francis and Laurus Trust chief executive Linda Magrath, and an MBE for David Crosby, chair of governors at Hugh Baird College, Bootle.

Angela Eagle

Political recipients include Labour MP and former minister Angela Eagle, who is made a Dame, and Cllr Azhar Ali, the leader of the Labour group on Lancashire County Council, receives an OBE.

Public sector leaders to be recognised include the DWP’s digital director Kenny Robertson, who receives the Order of the Bath, while the deputy chief inspector for the Office for Nuclear Regulation Dr Mina Golshan and regional prison group director Tim Allen receive CBEs.

There are OBEs awarded to Cheshire-based data protection specialist Jonathan Bamford, who has spent his whole career with the Information Commissioner’s Office and its predecessor organisations, and Debbie Francis, managing director of Direct Rail Services, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Charity leaders from across the North West were also recognised, with MBEs for Urban Outreach co-founders David and Christine Bagley, RoadPeace North West founder Pauline Fielding, the chair of Emmaus Merseyside Nigel Mellor, Space4autism chief executive Cheryl Simpson, and ADHD North West founder Barbara Worrall.