A Commons select committee has urged Tony Blair to abolish titles such as 'Sir' and 'Dame' as part of a major reform of the honours system. The Public Administration Committee, chaired by Labour MP Tony Wright, described the current system as anachronistic, class-bound, and biased against ethnic minorities and women.
The MPs recommended that 16 titles be declared redundant, including the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and the Order of the British Empire. They proposed replacing them with just four awards: Companion of Honour, Companion of the Order of British Excellence, Officer of the Order of British Excellence, and Member of the Order of British Excellence. Colonial-era titles were deemed 'insensitive' and 'inappropriate' for modern Britain.
The committee found that ethnic minorities receive disproportionately lower awards, with only 2.7% of knighthoods and 6.3% of OBEs and MBEs going to them. It also criticised the use of honours for political management and the awarding of gongs to celebrities, citing Harold Wilson's decision to give MBEs to the Beatles as an example of 'sprinkling stardust' on the list.
The MPs called for an independent commission to take over patronage from the Prime Minister, arguing that the current system casts suspicion on the process. They also demanded an end to automatic honours for civil servants, noting that nurses are rarely rewarded while civil servants regularly receive gongs.
The report comes ahead of a separate review by Sir Hayden Phillips, commissioned by Blair after leaks revealed that a scientist had been blackballed by a secret honours committee due to his links with animal experiments. Sir Hayden is expected to echo many of the committee's criticisms but stop short of recommending an end to prime ministerial patronage.
