Richard Thomas CBE, an honourable man.

Richard Thomas, who has perhaps become most famous for coining the phrase: “sleepwalking into a surveillance society,” has been awarded a CBE.

Computing World tells us that Richard Thomas was indirectly responsible for the MPs’ expenses row by ruling that politicians’ spending should be published after a Freedom of Information request for the details was originally rejected by the government.

He has also been highly critical of privacy scandals involving lost data at the Ministry of Defence, HM Revenue and Customs and other government departments, as well as warning of the risk to individual privacy posed by creating a central database on personal information for the national ID card.

It is suggested that someone departing such a high-profile public-sector position might have expected higher honours, perhaps even a knighthood.

Thomas will be succeeded next month as Information Commissioner by former Advertising Standards Authority chief executive Christopher Graham.