Pop star Annie Lennox receives an OBE in the New Year Honours List today for her work fighting Aids and poverty in Africa.

The former Eurythmics singer heads a host of entertainment and sport stars awarded honours, including Poirot actor David Suchet and Ryder Cup-winning golfer Graeme McDowell.

Also recognised are football referee Howard Webb, who made up for England’s disappointing World Cup performance by taking charge of the final in Johannesburg, and veteran actress Sheila Hancock.

Some of the honours for senior figures from the business world could prove controversial.

There are knighthoods for Martin Broughton, chairman of British Airways, Roger Carr, chairman of energy giant Centrica, and Richard Lambert, the outgoing director-general of the CBI.

The list also features the first honours for MPs since June 2008, when Peter Viggers, whose claim for a duck house later became the emblem of the expenses scandal, was knighted for services to Parliament.

Anne Begg, 55, who became the first full-time wheelchair user elected to Parliament when she was returned as Labour MP for Aberdeen South in 1997, is made a dame for services to disabled people and equal opportunities.

Peter Bottomley, 66, the Conservative MP for Worthing West in West Sussex, who was first elected in 1975 and served as a junior minister under Margaret Thatcher, is knighted for public service.