As Paul Waugh reports on his blog this morning, 21 Labour MPs have backed a Commons early day motion tabled by Martin Salter calling for Sir Fred Goodwin to be stripped of his knighthood. They've discovered that there's an obscure body called the forfeiture committee that has the power to take away knighthoods that bring "the honours system into disrepute" and they think it's time for the committee to convene a meeting.
Salter told Waugh:
Sir Fred Goodwin is a symbol of corporate greed, and the honours system is there to reward service not selfishness. There's clearly a powerful case for his refusal to hand back his knighthood to be considered by the forfeiture committee in order to preserve the integrity of the honours system. After all, parliament has asked him nicely, now we are telling him.
But this morning Downing Street made it clear that Gordon Brown is not in favour. "We are focusing on looking at the legal underpinning of [Goodwin's] pension arrangements," the prime minister's spokesman said. He said Brown recognises, and shares, the anger people feel about Goodwin's behaviour. But, although he was asked three times whether Brown backed the idea of Goodwin losing his knighthood, the spokesman kept repeating the line about the government focusing on trying to claw back some of Goodwin's pension money.
At Next Left, Sunder Katwala is floating his own solution. Anyone who feels strongly about this should start referring to the ex-RBS chief as "Not-Sir Fred Goodwin", Katwala suggests.
