JACK STRAW will be asked to explain why Guernsey’s Bailiff has not been knighted. Tory MP for Romford and vice chairman of the All-Party Channel Island Parliamentary Group Andrew Rosindell will table questions to the Justice Secretary’s office this week.

‘I don’t believe there’s any conspiracy. I just think it strange that convention has not been upheld in the traditional way,’ he said.

‘There are some sceptics of the Crown Dependencies within the Labour Party but I don’t think that Jack Straw would get involved in such a way.

‘He’s a minister who plays everything by the book and I’m confident that the matter will be resolved.’

Mr Rosindell said he would also speak face to face with Mr Straw on the matter.

Parliamentary questions were usually answered within a week.

Bailiff Geoffrey Rowland’s lack of a knighthood made the pages of yesterday’s Daily Telegraph.

It said some linked the snub to a secret meeting of States members held last year to discuss the issue of Guernsey’s independence.

It also mentioned ‘growing resentment’ of the Privy Council’s powers and how Mr Straw was becoming increasingly unpopular in the Bailiwick.

Deputy Dave Jones was quoted as saying that the attitude towards the islands had changed since the Labour Government came to power.

‘It is the first government not to send a Home Secretary to visit the islands, which shows a lack of respect for our sovereign position,’ said Deputy Jones.

On the Bailiff’s knighthood issue, he said that if tradition was being blocked by ‘dull men in grey suits, then quite frankly it was a disgrace’.

Mr Rosindell told the Guernsey Press yesterday that he did not believe that the government would play games in that way.

A Cabinet Office spokeswoman maintained silence on the issue and would not confirm whether any Bailiwick nominations had been denied.

‘It’s Cabinet Office policy to maintain confidentiality on the honours system at all times,’ she said.

‘We actually encourage people who nominate others not to say anything, to avoid disappointment.’