Nandy: Axe ‘Empire’ from OBE honours
LABOUR leadership contender
Lisa Nandy sparked a row last night by demanding that the word ‘Empire’ is removed from OBE honours – claiming it alienates people.
The Wigan MP claimed that ditching the reference to Britain’s colonial past would help make the country ‘different’.
But her claim sparked derision from the Tories, with one saying it showed just why Labour had lost patriotic Northern working-class support at the Election.
However, Ms Nandy sought to woo party members at leadership hustings in Bristol by citing the example of poet Benjamin Zephaniah who turned down an OBE in 2003 because it ‘reminded him of thousands of years of brutality’. She said: ‘It was Benjamin Zephaniah who baulked at the prospect of accepting an OBE – the Order of the British Empire. Why not a choice to provide the Order of British Excellence?
‘Why does the honours system, which should recognise the contribution of our people, shut people out, rather than bring people in? That is the country I want to build, and the Labour Party I will lead. That never accepts the world as it is, but builds the world as it should be.’
But Tory MP Philip Davies ridiculed her call, saying: ‘If the Labour Party thinks the way to win back the votes it lost in the North of England is with this kind of politically correct claptrap, they are a million miles off the pace.’
The Order of the British Empire recognises contributions to the UK across the arts and sciences, charity, public service and the military.