Sir Philip Green Faces Calls To Lose Knighthood - Here Are 15 People He Would Be Joining

From Mussolini to Fred 'The Shred'.
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Calls are growing for Sir Philip Green to be stripped of his knighthood after a blistering joint Commons select committee report branded the businessman the “unacceptable face of capitalism”.

McMahon was among a group of MPs who wrote to the Honours Forfeiture Committee calling for Sir Philip to be stripped of his knighthood amid criticism of the way he sold BHS to Dominic Chappell, a former bankrupt with no retail experience.

Pressure is growing for Sir Philip Green to be stripped of his knighthood
Pressure is growing for Sir Philip Green to be stripped of his knighthood
Ian West/PA Wire

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell was also among those calling for such drastic action, saying: “If Philip Green won’t do the right thing by the members of the BHS pension fund then he should have his knighthood removed. And if he says he can’t afford it then he should sell up his extra yacht.

If Green were to lose the honour, he would join the likes of ex-RBS boss Fred ‘The Shred’ Goodwin, disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris and even Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

Here are 15 people who have been stripped of their honours...

1
Stuart Hall
Martin Rickett/PA Archive
The former BBC broadcaster was stripped of his OBE by the Queen after he was jailed in 2013 for a series of sexual assaults on young girls.

During sentencing, the judge said Hall had acted with "a sense of arrogance and immunity... vile bravado and horrible betrayal", according to the BBC.
2
Rolf Harris
Dominic Lipinski/PA Archive
The disgraced entertainer, who is still in prison, was stripped of his CBE after he was convicted of sex attacks on girls as young as seven.

He is set to face trial again in 2017 on further indecent assault charges.
3
Fred Goodwin
Danny Lawson/PA Wire
Fred 'The Shred' Goodwin, the former head of Royal Bank of Scotland lost his knighthood, which he had been awarded for "services to banking".

At the time, a Cabinet spokesperson said that "the failure of RBS played an important role in the financial crisis of 2008/9."
4
Lester Piggott
Julian Herbert via Getty Images
Although widely regarded as one of the greatest flat racing jockeys of all time, that did not prevent Piggott losing his OBE after he was convicted of tax fraud.
5
Phil Taylor
John Walton/PA Archive
Phil 'The Power' Taylor was nominated for an MBE but it was annulled before he could even be awarded it after he was convicted of indecent assault.
6
Naseem Hamed
Reuters Photographer / Reuters
Naseem Hamed was stripped of his MBE after spending time in jail for dangerous driving.

He was involved in a car crash at 90mph, which left the driver of another car with every major bone in his body broken, as well as injuries to his brain, according to the Guardian.
7
Jean Else
David Jones/PA Archive
The 'super-head' was the first woman to have a damehood revoked.

She was stripped of her honour after the General Teaching Council found her guilty of failing to observe minimum standards in recruiting and promoting staff for her promotion of her twin sister.
8
Jack Lyons
Adam Butler/PA Archive
Jack Lyons, part of the so-called Guinness Four, lost his knighthood after being convicted of illegally boosting the price of shares.
9
Kim Philby
Pictorial Parade via Getty Images
Philby lost his OBE after he was exposed as a double agent. He was exposed as a member of the so-called Cambridge Five spy ring and defected to the Soviet Union.
10
Anthony Blunt
PA/PA Archive
Anthony Blunt, 72, was stripped of his knighthood after he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring alongside Philby.
11
Roger Casement
PA/PA Archive
Roger Casement lost his knighthood before his execution for treason due to his role in the 1916 Easter Uprising.

The Irish-born diplomat and human rights campaigner had tried to deliver weapons to republicans ahead of the uprising.
12
Vidkun Quisling
Keystone Features via Getty Images
Vidkun Quisling lost his CBE for collaborating with the Nazis when he headed a German puppet government in Oslo.

The word "quisling" is often now used to mean a "collaborator" or "traitor".
13
Nicolae Ceausescu
AP
Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu had his knighthood revoked the day before he was executed by a revolutionary firing squad.
14
Robert Mugabe
Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe had his honorary knighthood annulled in 2008.

At the time, a Foreign Office spokesperson said: "We can no longer justify an individual who is responsible for a consistent campaign of human rights violations and the disregard for the democratic process retaining an honour."
15
Benito Mussolini
Associated Press/AP
Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, was stripped of his honorary knighthood when Italy joined with Nazi Germany to declare war on the UK.

In an excoriating joint report, MPs of two Commons select committees accused the entrepreneur of seeking to blame anyone but himself for the firm’s failure.

They claimed he now had a “moral duty” to make a “large financial contribution” to the 20,000 pensioners facing substantial cuts to their benefits.

The remaining 114 BHS stores are to close next month leaving 5,000 staff redundant, according to the Mirror.

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