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Rishi Sunak put forward JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon and former Google chair Eric Schmidt for UK honours, people familiar with the matter said, as the British prime minister enters what may be his final weeks in office.
Officials were instructed to start the process in mid-May, said one of the people, with the proposal routed through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
The UK foreign office handles honours for non-UK citizens, including honorary knighthoods. The process involves less scrutiny than the route for UK citizens that is handled by the Cabinet Office and its vetting committees, according to officials. All honours must be rubber-stamped by King Charles III.
It was unclear what level of honour, if any, Dimon and Schmidt would ultimately receive. Both men are US citizens. One of Sunak’s ministers said Dimon would “be a strong candidate” for a knighthood.
The honour is awarded to individuals who make a “pre-eminent contribution in any field of activity”.
Dimon is the longest-serving chief executive on Wall Street, renowned for weathering the 2008 financial crisis and steering JPMorgan to become the largest US bank by assets.
Schmidt headed the search giant for a decade as it grew from a start-up to one of Silicon Valley’s most towering firms; he has since spent time on artificial intelligence, US national security and philanthropy.
A person close to the prime minister said Dimon would not be receiving any UK honour and there was no process in train.
Downing Street, the FCDO and JPMorgan declined to comment. A spokesperson for Schmidt did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The proposed honours for Dimon and Schmidt came after the announcement in March that Stephen Schwarzman, founder of the asset manager Blackstone, would receive an honorary British knighthood.
One British diplomat said it “wouldn’t be that surprising” if honours awarded by the UK Conservative administration had a “particular financial sector flavour”.
They noted Sunak had lived in the US and worked in finance before becoming a MP in 2015. Sunak worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and then at hedge fund TCI.
Sunak has also shown an interest in the tech sector, pushing to make the UK a leader in AI and hosting the first big global summit on artificial intelligence safety at Bletchley Park last year.
The prime minister has been criticised by his rivals for holding a US green card residence permit until 2021, well after he first entered government as a minister in 2018. He and his wife, Akshata Murty, own an apartment in Santa Monica, California.
UK opinion polls show Sunak’s Tories trailing the opposition Labour party by 21 points, according to the Financial Times’ poll tracker, indicating that Sir Keir Starmer is likely to enter Downing Street after the July 4 general election.
Sunak has insisted that he will remain in the UK even if he and his Conservative party are voted out of office.
Previous recipients of UK knighthoods include Disney boss Bob Iger in 2022 and media tycoon Michael Bloomberg in 2014. Foreign citizens awarded knighthoods or damehoods, the female equivalent, are not referred to as “Sir” or “Dame”.
Dimon attended Sunak’s global investment summit at Hampton Court Palace in London for “A-list” chief executives and investors in November. Last month during a trip to the UK he told Sky News he had “enormous respect” for Sunak.
But Dimon also confirmed he had also met Starmer, describing both UK politicians as “pro-business” and their parties as focused on growth.
Last year Schmidt made a joint £16mn donation to the UK Biobank, a biomedical database, along with Citadel chief executive Ken Griffin.
The King’s birthday honours list, which is vetted by honours committees that are made up of senior civil servants and independent members, is set to be published later this month.
FCDO honours, however, can be issued on an ad hoc basis. Separately, outgoing prime ministers typically draw up dissolution honours to recognise close allies, which are not vetted by the honours committees but are submitted to the Cabinet Office for “probity and propriety” checks.
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
