Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown blocked knighthood for Apple CEO Steve Jobs in 2009 because he turned down an invitation to speak at the Labour Party conference, reports “The Telegraph” (http://macte.ch/RDWKu), quoting a former senior Labour MP [Member of Parliament].
Jobs was put forward for the honor by the Prime Minster for services to technology, the article says. “Apple has been the only major global company to create stunning consumer products because it has always taken design as the key component of everything it has produced,” Brown, who left Parliament at the last election,” the MP said. “No other CEO has consistently shown such a commitment.”
The former MP was told by Downing Street that the decision was related to a failed attempt to attract Jobs to Labour’s annual conference. Such an appearance would have been viewed as a coup for Brown, according to “The Telegraph.” However, a spokeswoman for the former Prime Minister told the publication that, “Mr Brown did not block a knighthood for Steve Jobs.”