Why Emma couldn’t say no to damehood...

LEADING luvvie Emma Thompson admits that accepting a damehood in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours compromised her socialist credentials.

‘They send you a letter saying, “Will you accept it?”

‘You can choose not to — you can choose to say: “Well, of course, we don’t have an Empire any more thank God, because it was ghastly, colonial, racist and a dreadful undertaking on every level”, and actually have some moral principle about it.

‘Or you can be like me and think: “Hmmm, it’s going to be a really nice badge.” It’s hard to say no to a badge. Come on!’