If the article is correct, he was knighted under a Conservative government.
OK, I stand corrected. I couldn’t load the whole article earlier.
But corrected only technically, since John Major was the guy who kicked Maggie Thatcher out of office and started making the Conservatives over as the “me too” party. As a result, they’be been out of office pretty much ever since, since who wants “me too” if you can get the real thing? It’s been a long time since the Labour Party has had any real competition.
(Which is why I fear the election of John McCain, much as I also fear Obama.)