MPs: Sants knighthood reveals 'disease' in honours system

A pair of MPs have criticised the decision to award a knighthood to Hector Sants, the former chief executive of the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Sants (pictured), who presided over the regulator during the financial crisis, is alleged to have been recommended for the award by Chancellor George Osborne, who also encouraged him to stay on after his decision to retire in 2010. Politicians from across the spectrum alleged Osborne had offered Sants a knighthood in order to persuade him to continue in his role. Conservative MP Douglas Carswell told the FT: "Surely this says something about how diseased the body politic has become, when decisions about who is regulating our banks are made on the basis of baubles. "If this is true,...