THERESA May is at the centre of a cronyism row after New Year Honours were doled out to leading backers of the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

Some MPs have even accused the PM of weakness after one of Parliament's most prominent Brexiters was made a knight on the list of gongs.

John Redwood - one of the Eurosceptic Cabinet ministers infamously branded “bastards” by John Major. The 67-year-old has said he sees his knighthood as "a great honour".

Leading Brexiteer Sir Edward Leigh has been made a privy counsellor alongside Tories Philip Dunne and Sir Roger Gale who have been appointed to the Privy Council.

Leigh has yet to announce how he will vote next month but has conceded that Mrs May’s efforts to secure concessions from Brussels could still pay off.

Also receiving gongs are Juergen Maier, chief executive of Siemens' British business, and Katherine Bennett, senior vice-president of Airbus in the UK.

Both picked up prestigious CBEs and have previously spoken out in favour of the Tory leader's hard-fought withdrawal agreement.

Mr Maier has previously said of the Brexit deal: "My gut feeling is that we need to get behind it and we need to make this deal work because what we need is certainty."

Tory donor John H J Lewis, who has given thousands to the Conservative Party over the years, becomes an OBE.

With the crunch vote on May's EU Withdrawal Agreement due within the next three weeks, Westminster has been buzzing with speculation that honours may be deployed as a means of luring MPs to back the under-fire PM.

And a leading supporter of the Best for Britain campaign, Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, said the announcement brought "dishonour" on the honours system.

"I cannot see how it is anything but a desperate attempt to blunt criticism of the Prime Minister's Brexit deal by dangling a knighthood or two in front of MPs," said Ms Moran.

"All this does is erode trust in politics. Knights of the realm are meant to represent the best of being British, not backstabbing Brexit extremists like John Redwood.

"It just shows how weak Theresa May is that she is seen to be rewarding him for his behaviour."

Labour chairman Ian Lavery added: “It is insulting to those who make valuable contributions to society that the Tories still use the system to award honours to their own grandees and donors.”

A banker and academic, Mr Redwood headed the 10 Downing Street policy unit under Margaret Thatcher from 1982-87, where he was an outspoken champion of privatisation.

He entered Parliament as MP for Wokingham in 1987 and rose to Cabinet rank in 1993 as Wales secretary, where his most memorable moment came when he attempted to mime the Welsh national anthem despite clearly not knowing the words.

His clash with Mr Major over Europe came to a head in 1995 when the Prime Minister called on his critics to "put up or shut up" and resigned to permit a leadership contest.

Mr Redwood stood against him but received only 89 votes to Mr Major's 219. After being defeated in a second bid for the leadership in 1997, he returned to the Tory frontbenches from 1997-2005 under William Hague and Michael Howard.

An early supporter of an in-out referendum on Europe, Mr Redwood has argued since the 2016 Brexit vote for a clean break from the EU which he said should be "quick and easy".

Also on the honours list are best-selling author Philip Pullman, 72, creator of the His Dark Materials trilogy, and globe-trotting comedian Michael Palin, 75.

Others include children's author Julia Donaldson, 70, whose works include The Gruffalo and Stick Man, receives an upgrade from MBE to CBE. Film maker Christopher Nolan, 48, whose work includes the Dark Knight trilogy as well as Dunkirk, receives a CBE.