British consulate staff honoured for 'post-September 11 work'

Members of the British Consulate-General in New York have been honoured for their work following the US terror attacks.

A Downing Street spokesman says they are awarded in the New Year Honours for their 'exceptional work'.

Consul-General Thomas George Harris receives a knighthood.

The staff's duties included ascertaining who was and who was not in the World Trade Centre during the atrocity, and then notifying the next-of-kin.

A British government spokesman says Mr Harris would have been awarded his knighthood in any event and that "some of the staff are receiving awards for the exceptional work they did post-September 11".