ORDER OF ST MICHAEL AND ST GEORGE
GCMGSir Simon James Fraser, KCMG. FCO former permanent undersecretary. For services to the FCO and the pursuit of British foreign policy interests.
DCMG
Judith Anne MacGregor, CMG, LVO. High commissioner to South Africa. For services to British diplomacy.
KCMG
Malcolm David Evans, OBE. Chair of the UN subcommittee for torture prevention. For services to torture prevention and religious freedom.
Mark Ivan Rogers. EU permanent representative. For services to international policy.
CMG
Dr John Patrick George Freeman. Ambassador to Argentina. For services to the promotion and defence of British interests in Argentina.
The ranking being, call me God, kindly call me God, do call me God and God calls me God.
Whereas, amongst the less-enobled bottom-feeders, there’s:
BEM – Bloody ‘Ell, a Miracle
MBE – My Bloody Efforts
OBE – Other Buggers’ Efforts
CBE – Countless Buggers’ Efforts
Interesting that the gongs nearly always match the establishment view of the “social status” of the recipients… Thesps, diplomats, top civil servants, top newspaper chappies, top business folk etc all get Ks for basically doing their jobs. Hardworking “ordinary people” get xBEs for doing extraordinary things. (Excepting jockeys becoz HM the Q like the ‘osses).
History is replete with Simon Frasers, as it is with Colin Campbells. Why some families favour just a few Christian names so much I’m not sure; the example of Great Men in the past, I suppose. Colin Mor and all that.
Being ambassador to Argentina during the reign of Kirchner II must surely rank a few notches higher?
For a moment there I thought that the joke was the idea of anyone from the FCO actually pursuing British interests.