‘Honours system is offensive’
MP with an OBE calls for shake-up to remove links with days of colonialism and empire
A MANCHESTER MP with an OBE has called for a shake-up of the honours system, branding titles associated with the British Empire as ‘offensive and divisive’.
Stretford and Urmston MP Kate Green, who is shadow education secretary, said the link to the empire was ‘hurtful to people’ and she called for the honours system to be modernised.
She was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2005 in recognition for her work before she was a parliamentarian, supporting one parent families.
Ms Green said the honours system gave ‘huge pleasure’ to people when their achievements were recognised but she went on that ‘you can’t justify the branding’.
She explained her position during an interview for the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast.
The three orders of the British Empire (CBE, OBE and MBE) were first awarded during World War One to honour civilians who had contributed to the war effort.
They are now handed out twice a year, alongside other honours, to recognise noteworthy contributions to society.
Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford was awarded an MBE for his campaign on free school meal vouchers during lockdown.
The MP told Nick Robinson she had thought hard before accepting her OBE for services to charity and welfare for her work in helping children as chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group and before that as director of the National Council for One Parent Families.
She said she accepted it because it ‘thrilled’ her father. Explaining her views on the association between some honours and the empire, she said: “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 our whole curriculum. You can’t excuse or justify that branding but it’s actually deeper than that.
“I know many efforts have been made to democratise, to open up that honour system but it’s still pretty hierarchical in terms of who gets what order and who gets what award. “There’s a lot more reform in that space that I think is needed.”
It’s divisive, it’s offensive and hurtful to people
Kate Green, MP for Stretford and Urmston