For many it is the ultimate honour; for others it is an anachronistic relic tainted by colonialism and slavery.

As members of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire celebrate its centenary with a service at St Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday, there are calls to consign to history an order of chivalry whose insignia still bears the wording: “For God and the Empire”.

Crossbench peer Digby Jones, a former director general of the CBI, said use of the word was not only anachronistic, “especially in a post-Brexit world where we are reaching out to the Commonwealth”. How embarrassing, he said, to introduce “‘Fred Smith, OBE’. And they ask, ‘OBE – what does that stand for?’ ‘Order of the British Empire’. Possibly not the way to start saying we are equals.”

While in favour of honours – “and the lovely Mrs Miggins, the lollipop lady, getting hers” – Lord Jones, a former minister for trade and investment, does believe “we need to have a British Empire Medal, or the MBE, without the word empire”.

Lynn Faulds Wood, TV presenter and campaigner who has refused an MBE, agrees. “I love honours,” she said. “But not one with empire attached. It’s too tainted, and we don’t have an empire.”

Visceral objections to the word “empire” have long been expressed. For famous decliner, poet Benjamin Zephaniah: “It reminds me of slavery, it reminds me of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised.”



Benjamin Zephaniah.

Zephaniah appeared at a 2004 public administration select committee(Pasc) inquiry, which recommended no further appointments be made to the order and a new one created replacing the word “empire”. Tony Blair ignored its findings.

It reminds me of slavery … it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised Benjamin Zephaniah

The inquiry’s chair, Tony Wright, then Labour MP for Cannock Chase, believes not only should the centenary prompt a re-examination of “empire’ , but an “occasion to think about the system as a whole”.

He said: “The empire bit is so obviously in need of change, but it leads you into thinking about how you might have an honours system that doesn’t run into all the problems it runs into.

“It’s just lack of political will. Politicians love honours as an instrument of patronage. And we still have politicians giving honours to themselves. It is ludicrous that we have now got a third election campaign run by Sir Lynton Crosby. It’s beyond belief. This is Ruritania.”

A second Pasc inquiry in 2012 heard three Lords lieutenants express unease over the use of “empire”. Former chancellor Alistair Darling said: “We do not have [an empire]. We are making someone a commander of the British Empire and we are in no position to offer [them] such a command.”

That inquiry concluded while the word “empire” was disliked by some, and “the title may need to change in the future”, it should not be done “ahead of the order’s centenary in 2017”.

When George V created the order the empire encompassed more than 412 million people, almost a quarter of the world’s population, and covered a quarter of its land mass.

The order was created to reward civilians for war work, particularly in munitions production, transport, community and voluntary endeavour, and was given out across the empire, said Russell Malloch, of the Orders and Medals Research Society.

“It was an imperial award,” he said Malloch. “We had the imperial war cabinet, so it was a sensible phrase to use at that point. It was a good name, in the sense it did reflect the fact the empire was very much involved in the war.”

The first medals and insignia were bestowed by a George V at Ibrox Park, Glasgow. Before a 60,000-strong crowd, munitions worker Lizzie Robinson became the first woman to receive a the medal of the Order of the British Empire.

More than 300,000 medals have been appointed to its five grades; MBE, OBE, CBE, K/DBE and GBE or received the British Empire Medal.

Just 2% of those offered an honour decline it, and of that 2% “very small-single numbers” decline it because of use of the word “empire”, Sir Bob Kerslake, a former head of the civil service, told MPs.

Among high-profile black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) to decline are footballer Howard Gayle, Liverpool’s first black player, and the writer and rapper Jonzi D.

Wright said: “I suspect there is a sort of cultural expectation now that you don’t take it. When you get to that point, it’s pretty obvious, even on pragmatic grounds, you need to do something.”

On average, only about 6% of honours are given to those from BAME backgrounds, as fewer are nominated. The Cabinet Office is working to increase this number.

Richard Tilbrook, head of the honours and appointments secretariat at the Cabinet Office, has told MPs that when it was created, statutes stipulated it was to be “known forever thereafter” as the Order of the British Empire and “by no other designation”. Removing the word “empire” would mean scrapping it and replacing it with a new one, he argued.

But Malloch disagrees. He said: “The order was established by letters patent and you can change things. All you require is a second letters patent revising the name.” He said there was precedent, with the title of the Order of the Indian Empire being changed this way.

Jonzi D.

The decliners

Howard Gayle On refusing an MBE, Liverpool’s first black player said: “My ancestors would turn in their graves after how empire and colonialism had enslaved them.”

Doris Lessing Southern Rhodesia-born author, who declined a DBE, said: “When I was young I did my best to undo that bit of the British empire I found myself in.”

Benjamin Zephaniah The poet rejecting an OBE in 2003 said: “It reminds me of slavery, it reminds me of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised.”

JG Ballard The Empire of the Sun author, after turning down a CBE, said: “The honours system in a Ruritanian charade that helps to prop up the top-heavy monarchy.”

Nitin Sawhney The musician said after declining an OBE in 2007: “I wouldn’t like anything with the word ‘empire’ after my name.”

Peter Tatchell The campaigner has turned down an OBE and knighthood, saying the system “is a relic of feudalism”.

Jonzi D The writer and rapper refused an MBE for services to the arts. “My forefathers were victims of the British empire,” he said. “I am diametrically opposed to the idea of empire. Man, I’m a Star Wars fan – empire is bad.”

John Lennon The Beatle returned his MBE insignia in 1969, saying: “Your Majesty, I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against ‘Cold Turkey’ slipping down the charts. With love, John Lennon of Bag.”

Other decliners, who have not made their reasons public, include: Alan Bennett, playwright; David Bowie, singer; Danny Boyle, director; Albert Finney, actor; Henry Moore, sculptor; and Graham Greene, writer.

Artist LS Lowry holds the record for the most honours declined, refusing five times having been offered an OBE, CBE, KBE and twice offered Companion of Honour.