Harriet Harman has been forced to admit a high-profile blunder after wrongly telling MPs former banking chief Sir Fred Goodwin was knighted for charity work and not "services to banking".
Labour's deputy leader tried to bat off criticism of the honour given to the former Royal Bank of Scotland boss as she stood in for Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Commons Question Time.
But her explanation of why the man blamed for leading RBS to near-collapse and needing a multibillion-pound taxpayer bail-out got a gong was directly at odds with the official record.
The honours list published for the Queen's birthday in 2004 specified that Frederick Anderson Goodwin was knighted "for services to banking".
And in his official briefing about the Sir Fred's gong, then PM Tony Blair's spokesman explained that "he undertook many challenging projects that benefited both his company and the Scottish economy as a whole".
Ms Harman, who has been by far the most outspoken Cabinet critic of Sir Fred's £700,000-a-year pension deal, was challenged about the honour by Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Elfyn LLwyd.
Asked who had put him forward and why, she told him: "I think Sir Fred was nominated for a knighthood because of his services for the Prince's Trust. I understand it was not in recognition of his services to banking."
But immediately after the Question Time session, she was forced to correct her blunder, and in a statement, her office said: "The leader of the House is happy to correct what she said at Prime Minister's Questions regarding Sir Fred Goodwin's knighthood.
"It was, in fact, the case that he received his honour for services to banking but no doubt his contribution to the Prince's Trust would also have been taken into account."
