MPs are staging a vote on stripping Philip Green of his knighthood
MPs will next week vote on removing the knighthood of former BHS owner Sir Philip Green after two MPs tabled an amendment to a scheduled debate.
Work and pensions committee chair Frank Field was among the MPs who succeeded in securing a parliamentary debate on the collapse of BHS for 20 October.
And now, Conservative MP Richard Fuller and independent Michelle Thomson have added an amendment, calling for Green to be stripped of his gong.
Fuller told BBC Newsnight: "His actions at BHS were of such a nature as to make it faintly ridiculous for him to continue to warrant an award for services to retailing."
He added: "I'm putting forward this amendment for the simple reason that he warrants losing his knighthood.
"This is about expressing a legitimate sentiment about the way someone has behaved – it's not populist screaming, it's not a deal being done behind closed doors."
A spokesman for Green declined to comment.
Any vote by MPs will be non-binding, as the House of Commons has now power to remove or annul honours.
Instead the task is undertaken by the Honours Forfeiture Committee, which is chaired by the head of the civil service.
The original debate tabled by Field called on the House of endorse the findings of a recent scathing report by the Work and Pensions Committee, while the amendment tabled by Thomson and Fuller adds the following text:
"and, noting that Philip Green received his knighthood for his services for the retail industry, believes his actions raise the question of whether he should be allowed to continue to be a holder of the honour and calls on the Honours Forfeiture Committee to cancel and annul his knighthood.”
Speaking to Morning Wire after the amendment was tabled, Field declined to specify how he would vote, but predicted that MPs would back the call "overwhelmingly".
"I would have thought there will be a lot of anger expressed about BHS, and there is certainly a lot of anger in the country over his knighthood," Field said.
"It would have been amazing if the House of Commons did not want to take a view."