More than 250,000 people have signed a petition calling for former PM Tony Blair’s knighthood to be rescinded.
The decision to award the ex- Labour leader a knighthood in the New Year’s honours list has provoked a backlash from critics.
Some branded Blair a “war criminal” for taking Britain into bloody conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, leading to the deaths of more than 600 British military personnel and tens of thousands more civilians.
Others demanded an overhaul of the “corrupt” honours system.
Frankie London, 53, was one of the first to sign the petition.
Mr London, of Southend, Essex, said: “A knighthood for that repugnant man Tony Blair, but still no knighthood for the last surviving Dambuster George ‘Johnny’ Johnson in his 100th year is a national shame.
“A knighthood for a war criminal, but not for a war hero.”
Deborah Warford, another signatory, said: “Tony Blair should be prosecuted not knighted.
“Someone like this being honoured shows how corrupt and vile the system is.”
Fergus Murray said: “As long as people like Blair get honoured, this whole system dishonours us.”
Blair, who occupied 10 Downing Street from 1997 to 2007, faced sustained criticism over his decision to go to war in Iraq, culminating in the devastating inquiry by Sir John Chilcot.
The 2016 Chilcot Report found that Blair presented the case for war with “a certainty which was not justified” based on “flawed” intelligence about Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction.
Angus Scott, who started the petition on the website change.org, said: “Tony Blair caused irreparable damage to both the constitution of the United Kingdom and to the very fabric of the nation’s society.
“He was personally responsible for causing the death of countless innocent, civilian lives and servicemen in various conflicts. For this alone he should be held accountable for war crimes.”
He added: “Tony Blair is the least deserving person of any public honour, particularly anything awarded by Her Majesty the Queen.
“We petition the Prime Minister to petition Her Majesty to have this honour removed.”
All but one of the Queen’s nine Prime Ministers before Blair were appointed a Knight of the Garter, an honour created by Edward III in 1348, a few years after leaving office. The only exception, Alec Douglas-Home, was awarded the Order of the Thistle.
But Blair was forced to wait for more than 14 years. It has been suggested that the Queen’s strained relationship with him during his 10 years in office may have contributed to the ‘snub’.
Only one former PM has had to wait as long as Sir Tony for the honour. Edward Heath was appointed to the Order of Garter in 1992, 18 years after leaving office in 1974.
Winston Churchill and Harold Wilson took knighthoods immediately after departing Downing Street, while Clement Attlee and Maggie Thatcher had to wait around five years.
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