Salmond Asks Minister To 'Bend One For Beckham' After Star's Knighthood Snub

Salmond Asks Minister To 'Bend One For Beckham' After Star's Knighthood Snub

Alex Salmond has encouraged a Cabinet minister to "bend one for Beckham" as he mocked the former England captain's knighthood snub.

The SNP MP joked that there is "shock and disappointment" being felt across Scotland over David Beckham's anger at the lack of an honour.

He added these feelings were due to his "fawning support" for the pro-Union campaign during the Scottish independence referendum.

Leaked emails include one in which Beckham criticises the honours committee, which decides on recipients, as "a bunch of c***s" and brands the honours system as "a f****** joke".

A representative of the ex-Manchester United and Real Madrid star said the messages released gave a "deliberately inaccurate picture".

The representative labelled them as "outdated material taken out of context from hacked and doctored private emails from a third-party server".

Former Scottish first minister Mr Salmond asked Commons Leader David Lidington: "Can we have a statement on the shock and disappointment being felt across Scotland at the failure of former England captain David Beckham to gain a knighthood?

"This is particularly the case since he'd been advised that his fawning support for the Better Together campaign in 2014 would play well with the establishment, and in turn help your knighthood.

"We can all associate with his sense of disappointment when he replied they're a bunch of expletive deletives 'It's a disgrace to be honest - if I was American I'd have got this 10 years ago'.

"Surely the leader of the House can bend one for Beckham?"

Mr Lidington replied: "I wasn't quite sure whether you were speaking on behalf of Mr Beckham or whether there was perhaps some other motive there, a yearning for the knighthood yourself.

"I can honestly say to you that this is not a matter for me."

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