Call for abolition of knighthoods

THE ancient titles of “Sir” and “Dame” should be dropped and the Order of the British Empire scrapped and replaced by a new Order of British Excellence, a committee of MPs said yesterday.

The Commons Public Administration said radical reform was needed of an honours system which was out-dated, class-bound and too redolent of a long-gone imperial past.

It said that references to “Empire” in honours were now “unacceptable” in a country where many people no longer shared the values which it embodied.

It called for new targets to ensure that more honours went to women and people from the ethnic minorities to “reflect more closely the diversity of the UK population.”

And it said the system of awarding honours should be made transparent to allay suspicions that they were given as a reward for political favours or donations to the political parties.

Critics accused the committee of pandering to “political correctness.”

The committee’s report comes as the British government is conducting its own review of the honours system.

The committee said that while there was still “solid” support for the honours system, changes were necessary. It recommended phasing out knighthoods and damehoods over a five-year period.

The committee added that replacing the Order of the British Empire with an Order of British Excellence would be “sensible adaptation” and not “political correctness.”