Benjamin Zephaniah has ruled himself out of the running for the poet laureateship, saying he has “absolutely no interest in this job”.

Zephaniah, one of the UK’s most celebrated poets, had been mentioned in news reports as a possible candidate for the position once Carol Ann Duffy steps down from her 10-year term in 2019, alongside names including Lemn Sissay, Simon Armitage, Vahni Capildeo and Patience Agbabi. But the poet who describes himself as “profoundly anti-empire”, and who turned down an OBE in 2003, saying at the time, “Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought”, has made it clear that he is not an option for the laureateship.

“I have absolutely no interest in this job. I won’t work for them. They oppress me, they upset me, and they are not worthy,” he wrote on Twitter. “I write to connect with people and have never felt the need to go via the church, the state, or the monarchy to reach my people. No money. Freedom or death.”

Carol Ann Duffy: ‘With the evil twins of Trump and Brexit … There was no way of not writing about that, it is just in the air’ Read more

Zephaniah is not the first writer to rule himself out of the running for the laureateship next year. Wendy Cope, who called for the post to be abolished in 2009, told the Guardian last week that she would not be a contender this time round, adding: “If it’s a competition, it is one that many poets have no interest in winning.” The acclaimed Scottish poet Jackie Kay, who is Scotland’s current makar, the national poet, has also expressed doubts about taking on the role. “I can’t see how I could possibly be the makar and the poet laureate,” she said last week. “I don’t think the powers that be would want to combine the two.”

Zephaniah’s withdrawal might further narrow the field, but with names from John Agard to Daljit Nagra still in the race, the panel of experts convened by culture secretary Jeremy Wright has a thriving poetry sector to consider. The experts, drawn from across the UK’s arts organisations, have been asked to put forward recommendations for Duffy’s replacement, as well as “on the scope and purpose of the next poet laureate”, with the next incumbent to take over in May 2019. They will join a roster of former poets laureate stretching back to 1668, and including names from William Wordsworth to Ted Hughes, and will hold the role for 10 years, during which time they will also be able to enjoy the laureate’s traditional butt of sack.