Steve Jobs honorary knighthood thwarted by Gordon Brown

Apple boss Steve Jobs was denied an honorary knighthood in 2009 because he turned down an offer to speak at the Labour Party conference, the Daily Telegraph reported.

A former senior Labour MP told the Guardian newspaper that Jobs was up for the honour of knighthood for his services to technology. But then-prime minister Gordon Brown shot him down as a candidate because he declined to speak at a party conference, a source revealed.

Apple has been the only major global company to create stunning consumer products because it has always taken design as the key component of everything it has produced. No other CEO has consistently shown such a commitment, the newspaper quoted a parliamentarian as saying.

Apple was aware of the proposal, he said, and it reached the final stages of approval, but was rejected by Downing Street. The problem, according to the MP, was that then-PM Gordon Brown had wanted Mr. Jobs to speak at Labour's annual meeting, but that Mr. Jobs declined. The implication is that Downing Street blocked the knighthood as retribution, the report said quoting the source.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the former Prime Minister said, Mr Brown did not block a knighthood for Steve Jobs, but declined to discuss the matter further.

Jobs, who is on his third medical leave, has battled a rare form of pancreatic cancer for seven years. Recently, Jobs was pictured leaving a café in California. However, there are ruomours doing the rounds that he would make an appearance for iPad 2 unveiling ceremony scheduled on Wednesday.