Scotland’s medical chiefs and community heroes have been honoured for their work during the pandemic in the New Year Honours List, which also saw the Queen knight former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith has been given a knighthood for his work during the Covid-19 crisis, alongside England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, deputy CMO, Jonathan Van-Tam, and Welsh CMO Frank Atherton.

Meanwhile, Paul Fairie, head of operations at the Lighthouse Laboratory in Glasgow – one of Scotland’s main testing labs - has received an OBE, as well as Dr Syed Ahmed, clinical Director at Health Protection Scotland, for services to the Covid-19 vaccination programme. A further nine Scots have also been honoured for their work relating to the pandemic.

Scottish athletes, business people and scientists were also among those given honours in this year’s list, while from the world of showbiz Joanna Lumley has been made a dame and Daniel Craig has been handed the same honour as his fictional alter ego James Bond received in the character’s books and films. Meanwhile, former prime minister Sir Tony is knighted with the highest possible ranking.

Great Britain's Kathleen Dawson slips as she pushes off the wall on the first leg of the Mixed 4 x 100m medley relay during the swimming event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan last summer.

Sir Tony, who held the keys to Number 10 between 1997 and 2007, said it was an “immense honour” to have been made a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry, to which appointments are in the Queen’s gift without advice from the Government.

On the UK list, there are also damehoods for UK Health Security Agency chief Dr Jenny Harries, and Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), after a year in which the threat of new variants arose and more than 130 million vaccinations were administered. The UK Government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, who was originally knighted in the 2019 New Year Honours list, has been elevated to a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

GP Dr Smith had been Scotland’s deputy chief medical officer from 2015 to April 2020, when he took over from predecessor Dr Catherine Calderwood after photos showing her breaking coronavirus travel rules to visit her second home resulted in resignation.

In his role, Dr Smith has advised the Scottish Government on its public health response to the Covid-19 pandemic and attended Covid-19 press briefings to answer questions from the media.

He said he was he was “surprised and honoured” to have been made a Knight Bachelor.

New Year Honours for Scots leading fight against pandemic