IT’S not unusual for a singer to be knighted nowadays, but leaked Whitehall documents reveal that Sir Tom Jones’s place in today’s new year honours list is the result of a lobbying campaign that was quite out of the ordinary.

Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, has been pestered to get him a title for the past three years. Barry Clayman, the Welsh crooner’s promoter, made the first approach in August 2002.

In an over-the-top letter to Jowell, seen by The Sunday Times, Clayman gushed: “Attending a Tom Jones concert is rather the way one would imagine a meeting of the United Nations to be but even more so.

“The audience join together to enjoy the occasion and the whole evening (every evening) creates an incredible feeling of goodwill — the atmosphere is amazing and it is wonderful to see people from so many diverse cultures and age groups unite in such a positive way.

“Tom Jones is a living legend, he has inspired hundreds of up and coming artistes and continues to do so — I believe a knighthood to be long overdue.”

Officials at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport quickly opened a file on Jones’s knighthood, and Jowell wrote back to say why he would not be getting one — yet.

She told Clayman: “As Tom Jones received his OBE in 1999, it is unlikely that he will be considered for a higher award in the very near future. The reason for this is that the general rule is to allow a gap of five years before an individual can be considered for an award at a higher level.

“However, I will ensure that Mr Jones’s case is considered again at the appropriate time.”

That was not the end of the matter, however. In the wake of Clayman’s letter, e-mails and letters flooded in to Jowell’s department from Jones’s fans around the world. Officials suspected the campaign was being co-ordinated via the internet.

The fans’ hyperbole outdid even Clayman’s. One wrote: “He has a God-given talent that few are blessed with. Witnessing this man sing is something truly amazing.”

Another said of the miner’s son: “Tom Jones had the greatest gift that God ever gave to a man, except for Jesus Christ . . . he gave the world a glimpse of God and his heaven.”

A third added: “His live performance is nothing short of brilliance, his voice could be Britain’s national treasure.”

It seems Jowell kept her word. Six years after receiving his OBE, Thomas Jones Woodward — his real name — heard that he was to be made a knight.

His cousin, Dorothy Woodward, who lives in Caerphilly, said yesterday: “To be honest, I think it’s well deserved.”

Clayman — who has been Jones’s promoter since the former bricklayer hit No 1 with It’s Not Unusual in 1965, and who also works with the Rolling Stones — received his own OBE in 2004.

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