Will Sir Philip Green lose his Knighthood? Here’s how it could happen

Sir Philip Green faces calls to lose his Knighthood after being named as the businessman accused of trying to gag bullying and badual harbadment claims.

Demands have mounted after Labour peer Lord Hain said it was his “duty” to unmask the Topshop billionaire under the legal protection of the House of Lords.

Today Downing Street insisted the process to strip of someone of their knighthood is independent of government.

But a spokeswoman said officials “are constantly reviewing evidence in relation to matters like this.”

She added that the Prime Minister had been clear “bullying and badual harbadment in the workplace is against the law and that kind of behaviour can’t be tolerated”.

Sir Philip has vehemently denied allegations of unlawful badual and racist behaviour and refused to confirm if he was the businessman behind a £500,000 injunction.

Yet Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable said: “I find it difficult to see how he could credibly hold on to an honour in these circumstances.”

So how would the process to strip his knighthood actually work?

Here is an explanation of the mysterious and mystifying system.

How is a knighthood stripped?

Stripping a knighthood is a complex process decided by the independent, but highly secretive, Forfeiture Committee.

It’s existed for 50 years and has five members, one of whom is chairman Sir Jonathan Stephens – a top civil servant who is in charge of the whole honours system.

It also includes the Treasury Solicitor and the head of the original honours committee that recommended Sir Philip be knighted in 2006 for services to the retail industry.

The other two members are kept secret but are drawn from other honours committee members who have relevant experience.

Who can apply to strip Sir Philip’s knighthood?

Anyone.

To start the process a complaint has to be made to the separate Honours and Appointments Secretariat, a group of Cabinet Office civil servants.

Officials say a member of the public’s complaint is treated with the same weight as an MP’s.

The Secretariat compiles the evidence for the Forfeiture Committee to make its decision.

Does the Queen get to decide?

The Queen is nothing to do with making the decision, but does have to give her approval before it can be put into action.

Once a decision is made, it is pbaded to the Prime Minister and then the Queen for sign-off. In practice this would be a rubber stamp.

Is the committee already meeting?

We don’t know, and Downing Street refused to say.

Forfeiture Committee meetings are not announced or advertised – it doesn’t meet on a schedule but “as required”.

Only the final decision is publicly announced, and even then it only appears in the – these days quite obscure – London Gazette.

The whole process can, however, move very quickly once it’s up and running.

Haven’t I heard all this before?

Yes. MPs voted unanimously in October 2016 for a bid to strip Sir Philip Green of his knighthood over the collapse of BHS, which left a huge pensions black hole.

Not a single MP opposed the historic motion on the tycoon – which was thought to be one of the first ever of its kind.

In a lively debate lasting more than two hours MPs branded Sir Philip a “billionaire spiv” who had “shamed British capitalism”.

Business committee chief Iain Wright said the retail king “took the rings from BHS’s fingers” before selling the High Street giant for £1.

But the motion in the House of Commons was only advisory and in the end, it is up to the committee whether to take action.

In a rare public statement in January 2017, the Forfeiture Committee chairman revealed he was waiting until the findings of regulator probes into BHS before deciding whether to take action.

Has anyone ever been stripped of their knighthood?

Yes. Since 1980 six knights and one dame have had their honours forfeited, according to the House of Commons Library.

They were:

• Joseph Kagan (1980) after a conviction for tax fraud
• Isidore Lyons (1991) after conviction for theft and false accounting
• Jean Else (2011) after she was barred from teaching by the General Teaching Council
• Fred Goodwin (2012) after “widespread concern” about his role as RBS boss during the financial crisis
• James Crosby (2013) after a report by the Banking Commission into HBOS, where he was chief executive
• Alan Seymour Davies (2014) after conviction for false accounting as a headteacher
• George Castledine (2015) after he was struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.