How Green can be stripped of his gong

WHILE knighthoods and other honours can be handed out by prime ministers, they cannot take them away.

This power rests with the secretive Honours Forfeiture Committee, and ultimately the Queen.

The committee consists of three people, and is currently chaired by Lord Kerslake, who was head of the Home Civil Service.

It can only consider whether to remove an honour if it receives an official letter complaining about someone’s conduct by an MP or a member of the public.

The letter is initially sent to the Honours and Appointments Secretariat, which is based in the Cabinet Office and has offices off Horse Guards Parade in central London.

This secretariat considers the case and, if it agrees, forwards it to the Honours Forfeiture Committee.

If this body decides someone should have their knighthood removed, the recommendation is submitted via the Prime Minister to the Queen. If Her Majesty agrees, a notice is placed in the London Gazette to rescind the honour. Previous figures who have forfeited their honours include: ÷ Rolf Harris, who lost his CBE in 2015 after being jailed for almost six years for a string of sex attacks on girls as young as seven.

Harris, 86, was given the honour by the Queen a year after painting her portrait to mark her 80th birthday. ÷ Fred Goodwin, who received his knighthood for services to banking under the Labour government before guiding the Royal Bank of Scotland to the brink of collapse in 2008.

While honours are usually only removed from those convicted or jailed, the Cabinet Office said the scale of the RBS disaster made the case ‘exceptional’. ÷ Robert Mugabe, who lost his honorary knighthood in 2008 over his ‘abuse of human rights’ and ‘abject disregard’ for democracy.

The Queen approved the annulment, awarded in 1994. ÷ Vicky Pryce, who was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 2009 in recognition of her contribution as head of the government economic service.

But in March 2013 she and ex-husband Chris Huhne were jailed for eight months for swapping speeding penalty points a decade earlier so he could avoid a driving ban.