Sunday, March 1

How an honour can be removed

now this is something that we were debating yesterday over lunch. Obviously aiming at the debate around Sir Fred’s pension fund. Personally speaking, i dont agree in taking away his pension fund simply on the say so of those idiots in the government. So the next day you dont like somebody, you take his pension out? If that works, should we take your pensions away, you ignorant incompetent bunch of ministers and MP’s? Sir Fred made ONE mistake, you have made a series of mistakes, he mucked up ONE bank, you mucked up the entire country. Anyway, so how do you get out of the honour business? Thankfully, here’s a quick guide to removal of British Honours. said this:

Politicians including the Prime Minister have little influence over the process.

Because honours like Sir Fred Goodwin's knighthood are granted by the Queen, only the Sovereign can remove them.

In practical terms, the real power rests with a small group of senior civil servants who make up the Forfeiture Committee

The committee is composed of the Cabinet Secretary, the Treasury Solicitor, the Permanent Secretary to the Home Office and Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Executive.

Any recommendation for forfeiture from the committee is passed to the Prime Minister who then submits a request to the Queen.

According to the Cabinet Office, if it came to light that an honours recipient had been convicted and jailed for a serious offence, the forfeiture of the honour would be "almost inevitable."

But where there is no clear case of criminality, the outcome is far from certain and the removal can be lengthy.

A prime example is Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1994. Years of political violence and repression in Zimbabwe sparked repeated calls for the honour to be annulled, but it was only in June 2008 that the honour was finally revoked.

I wonder what happened to Lord Archer? Or did not happen, rather. I mean, how come his or Lord Ahmed’s honours were not removed? Can you still remain a member of the House of Lords after being convicted of a crime?

 

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