Pete Wishart is disappointed by claims Andy Murray has been denied a knighthood in the New Year’s Honours Lists.
The Perth and North Perthshire MP had led a campaign for the tennis star to receive the honour in the immediate wake of his victory at Wimbledon in July.
The 26-year-old became the first British man in more than 70 years to take the title.
Last night he said that officials had “missed a trick” but said he hoped the Scot’s successes would make it harder to resist such calls in the future.
He said: “It’s very disappointing his victory was the pre-eminent British sporting success of the year.
“It’s reckoned that Wimbledon is about the hardest tournament to win … it was a great personal achievement and there really was this view that, once we’d got this monkey off our back, that whoever won it would go straight on to be honoured and remembered in the right and appropriate way.
“I think for most people that would be in securing a knighthood.
“A knighthood would have been a worthy recognition of just how much his win meant to so many people in Scotland and across the UK.”
The politician dismissed claims that, at the age of just 26, Murray is too young to be considered for the top honour.
“It’s the only way that we have of honouring our sporting greats it doesn’t matter how old you are when you achieve that.
“If it was just a matter of giving honours to people who have reached a certain age then we would be missing out in so much in terms of making sure that people were awarded for achievements that they make.”
He added: “The Westminster system has really missed a trick by not knighting Andy Murray, but like all of Andy’s fans I am confident that he will go on to win even more success and make the case for recognising his achievements with a knighthood an unanswerable one.”For full coverage of the New Year Honours see Tuesday’s Courier or try our digital edition.