Arise Sir Bill
Staffordshire MP Bill Cash has been knighted for his political service - and said it was a 'very great honour'.
The Conservative MP for Stone is a long standing eurosceptic who called for a referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union long before the mainstream party leaders were willing to consider the idea.
Speaking after the ceremony the MP said: "I'm so delighted, I try to do everything I can for what I believe in, both in the House of Commons and for the country and obviously Her Majesty in the sense I serve her and am devoted to her as a monarch - so it's a very great honour."
He added: "Some people would say the clock has turned a very long way so I'm very pleased about that.
"There is unfinished business however, regarding the whole question of the integrationist programme of the rest of Europe. So we've got to deal with the whole question of restoring the right of British people to govern themselves and restore parliament to its rightful place."
An MP since 1984 - initially for Stafford - he was a thorn in the side of Tory prime minister John Major as a ringleader of backbench rebels against the Maastricht Treaty in the early 1990s, and has been chairman of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee since 2010.
He has also fought for women's rights, tabling a Gender Equality in International Development Bill which became law this year.
See also: Sir Bill's the most talkative MP in the West Midlands.
