NORTH Somerset MP Dr Liam Fox has received a Knighthood.

Sir Liam received the award for public and political service.

Speaking further about the Knighthood, Sir Liam said: “It has been an honour and privilege to serve the people of North Somerset and I thank them for their support since 1992.

"This award is also for those who worked on the Down Syndrome campaign and those who have worked for the Give Us Time charity I founded.”

Sir Liam speaks further about the charity on the Conservatives' website: "In 2013, I founded a charity called Give Us Time. It was designed to provide good quality holidays for the families of our Armed Forces, especially those who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"I am delighted that this year we will be celebrating not only our 10th anniversary but the fact that, for the first time, we have sent over 1,000 people on holiday in a single year. 

"The idea of the charity was a simple one. We asked people who had a second home, holiday home or timeshare to give us the weeks they were not using so that we could give them free of charge to service families who needed them.

"The response was terrific, supported by a number of travel companies and individuals who gave us unused places. One hotel chain, Wyndhams, gives us a week in a European ski resort where we have had wonderful experiences such as seeing members of our most elite regiments teaching children of Gurkha soldiers to ski! 

"The genesis of this idea was twofold. As a GP working with the army, I saw up close the strains that service families could come under with frequent changes of homes and disruptive changes in schools for children. As Defence Secretary, I saw how deployment abroad could exacerbate this."

Sir Liam served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2019, as well as Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011.

He worked as Trade Secretary in post-Brexit Britain, where he was tasked with creating a independent trade policy and reconstituting the Board of Trade to support British exporters. His achievements, amongst others, also including establishing the posts of Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioners.

Sir Liam, a medical doctor by profession, has also held other roles such as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Michael Howard and Minister at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and, in 2020, was the UK’s candidate to be Director General of the WTO.