Sir Keir Starmer slaps down shadow education secretary Kate Green for labelling the UK honours system ‘offensive’ and ‘divisive’ as he says his knighthood means the ‘absolute world’ to him
- Shadow education secretary Kate Green criticised the current honours system
- She said use of language associated with British empire ‘divisive’ and ‘offensive’
- But Sir Keir Starmer said the awards ‘meant the absolute world’ to recipients
Sir Keir Starmer today slapped down shadow education secretary Kate Green after she labelled the UK honours system ‘divisive’ and ‘offensive’.
Ms Green said the system needed to be reformed because of its British empire ‘branding’ which is ‘hurtful to people’.
But Sir Keir, who received his knighthood in 2014 in recognition of his work as director of public prosecutions, said he disagreed with Ms Green and he intends to speak to her about her comments.
The Labour leader said the award he was given ‘meant the absolute world’ to him and the honours system is a ‘good thing’.
Sir Keir Starmer today defended the UK honours system after his shadow education secretary Kate Green said it is ‘divisive’ and ‘offensive’
Asked during an appearance on LBC Radio if he agreed with Ms Green that the honours system is ‘offensive’, Sir Keir replied: ‘No, I don’t. I haven’t actually spoke to Kate about this but I will.
‘Kate is a very thoughtful woman by the way, I think she was on the podcast with Nick Robinson which is always a really interesting podcast.
‘The honours system, forget my knighthood and put it to one side, what I mean is don’t focus on that.
‘In the civil service I saw people who work really hard across different sectors, school teachers as well, and to be recognised by the honours system meant the absolute world to them.
‘It did to me, yes. Partly one of the reasons I took the knighthood was on behalf of my staff at the Crown Prosecution Service because for them it reflected what they had done as well as what I had done.
‘But more importantly in a sense if you look across the lists, whenever I see the honours lists I go through the lists and look at who they are and what they are getting it for and it is really interesting to see the people in charitable work, public service, the things that people have put in that they get rewarded for and I think that is a good thing.’
Critics have called for the word ’empire’ in the orders of the British Empire – the CBE, OBE and MBE – to be replaced with ‘excellence’.
Ms Green, who was herself made an OBE in recognition of her charitable work in the 2005 New Year Honours list, said there is ‘more reform’ needed of the system.
Asked on the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast if the honour should continue to be called Order of the British Empire, she said: ‘No, it’s really the wrong language – it’s divisive, it’s offensive and hurtful to people.
‘One of the things I’ve been looking at a lot in recent weeks is the black curriculum campaign and decolonising our history and the whole curriculum.
‘You can’t excuse or justify that branding, but actually it’s deeper than that.
‘I know many efforts have been made to democratise and open up that honours system but it’s still pretty hierarchical of who gets what. There’s a lot more reform that’s needed.’
Ms Green said the honours system needed to be reformed because of references to the British empire
Many would-be recipients have turned down honours because of their association with the empire and its history of slavery, including poet Benjamin Zephaniah, who rejected an OBE in 2003.
However, Conservative Party co-chair Amanda Milling said the names given to Britain’s national honours ‘reflect this country’s history and traditions’.
‘We should not abandon them, just as we shouldn’t rename the Victoria Line, the Royal Albert Hall or the Imperial War Museum, or tear down the countless public monuments, statues and landmarks that tell the story of our United Kingdom,’ the Tory MP said.
‘To do so would be an act of cultural and historic vandalism.’