Permission to receive foreign orders, decorations and medals

The request was refused by Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Dear Foreign and Commonwealth Office,

Could you please provide me with all releasable information held on the following topics:

1. The offering and acceptance by David Cameron MP of the Order of Abdulaziz al Saud from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

2. Any information held on other instances of foreign orders, decorations and medals being offered to Mr Cameron.

3. Whether Tony Blair MP was offered and accepted the Order of Abdulaziz al Saud from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia while Prime Minister, and if so any information related to it.

4. The offering and acceptance by Tony Blair MP of the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the United States of America.

5. Any information held on other instances of foreign orders, decorations and medals being offered to Mr Blair.

Yours faithfully,

Ned D. Donovan

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Dear Mr Donovan,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. It has been assigned a unique reference number (above) and has been passed to the relevant section within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to deal with. They will be in touch with you should your request need clarification.

We received your request on 25 August 2015 and will aim to respond within 20 working days, following the date of receipt.

Yours sincerely

FOI and DPA Team
FCO

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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Donovan

 

I attach a reply to your FOI request.

 

Kind regards

Protocol Directorate

 

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References

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2. http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/

Dear Foreign and Commonwealth Office,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Foreign and Commonwealth Office's handling of my FOI request 'Permission to receive foreign orders, decorations and medals'.

Given the the questions I asked relate to two individuals who received honours, if they did, while holding public office and often in response to actions while acting for the government and not in a private capacity, it is my belief public interest does in fact outweigh the issues of exclusion. Permission to wear foreign honours was also in the past published by the government in the London Gazette, so it has not always been undisclosed. As a result, I request a review of this request to all or some of the questions.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...

Yours faithfully,

Ned D. Donovan

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Dear Mr Donovan,

Thank you for your request for an Internal Review of your FOI Request Ref XXXX-XX. It has been passed to the relevant department within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to deal with. They will be in touch with you with an outcome.

We received your request on 18 September 2015 and will aim to respond within 20 working days.

Yours sincerely

FOI and DPA Team

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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Dear Mr Donovan

 

A review of your FOI request ref: 0849-15 is being conducted and you will
receive a response as soon as this has been completed.

 

We estimate that it will take an additional 20 days in order to complete
this internal review.  Therefore we plan to let you have a response by 13
November 2015.

 

Regards

 

Marina Pettigrew  Deputy Head of Royal, Ceremonial and Honours
Unit| Protocol Directorate | Rm KG84 | Foreign and Commonwealth Office| 
King Charles Street  | London SW1A 2AH | Tel +44 (0)

20 7008 1034 Mobile: +44 (0) 7557 824 370|  E-mail:
[1][email address] | [2]www.gov.uk/fco

 

 

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file:///tmp/outbind:/56/slyallgrant/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Signatures/www.fco.gov.uk
3. http://www.gov.uk/fco
4. http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

1 Attachment

 

Dear Mr Donovan

 

I attach a reply to your request to review your FOI.

 

Kind regards

Protocol Directorate

 

 

 

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References

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2. http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/