Tebbit's anger at knighthood for Ted Kennedy

Quoted in the Daily Mail, Lord Tebbit leads Tory concern at Gordon Brown's decision to award American Senator Ted Kennedy with an honorary knighthood:

"Edward Kennedy may never have said outwardly he supported the IRA but he certainly leaned towards extreme Republicanism. He was certainly no friend of the UK. This honour is wholly inappropriate on the basis of the sleaze attached to him after the crash at Chappaquiddick, let alone his support for nationalism in Northern Ireland. It cheapens the whole honours system."

In the same newspaper Andrew Roberts agrees:

"For it is no exaggeration to say that Ted Kennedy did his damnedest to poison U.S.-UK relations over Ulster during the long decades in which he has castigated successive British governments. Rather than expressing any genuine commitment to peace in Northern Ireland, he would always play exclusively to his own Catholic-Irish voters in Massachusetts, whom he has represented in the Senate for more than 46 years."

Michael Ancram and Ann Widdecombe are also said to be disappointed although long-term Kennedy admirer, Simon Burns MP, will be sure to welcome the decision.

10.45am Statement from Michael Ancram MP: "I find it extraordinarily inappropriate that Ted Kennedy who was the champion of Irish nationalism and the opponent of unionism as well as a supporter of republicanism should be so honoured for his unhelpful one-sidedness in the Peace Process when others like Senator George Mitchell who went out of his way to be even-handed between both sides is not.  But then under this Government so much else is upside down and perverse as well."

Comments

[Sally Roberts]

I agree 100% with Lord Tebbit on this.

After the terrible events of October 1984 which robbed Lady Tebbit of her mobility and left Lord Tebbit in almost constant pain, the very idea of granting an Honour to someone who was an apologist for those whose aim was to murder the entire British Cabinet is, even after all this time, a gross insult!

[ToryBlog.com (ex GB£.com)]

Brown is sure determined to take the whole UK down with him.

Just what will be left by election time?

[Sally Roberts]

Why have you changed your name, ToryBlog.com?!!! This comes as a terrible shock ;-)

[ToryBlog.com (ex GB£.com)]

LoL Sally, I just spotted that the Tories have now added the pledge to *never* join the Euro to their policy page, so there was no need to continue that little campaign.

So I thought I'd give another domain an airing, if only to confuse people into thinking that I am a Tory... ;-)

[Edward Huxley]

One ghastly creep rewarding another.

[Walter West]

When I first heard this I thought it was something of a joke.

I cannot see why the Prime Minister thought it appropriate to do this, I can't see how Ted Kennedy could have the gall to accept it and I am more than a little bit cross about the whole thing.

[John Broughton]

Ted kennedy was a malign influence re Ulster and this award is disgraceful.

[Richard Calhoun]

I know now that it is true, Gordon Brown is a complete sycophant

[David Graves-Moore]

As usual, Lord Tebbit is right. Teddy Kennedy has a very murky past, and his unhelpful comments during the troubles in Northern Ireland were calculated to win him support in the USA, not to help sort out the mess. Of course, since the British government sold out to the IRA terrorists in order to get a "settlement" it is not surprising that Brown sees Kennedy as an ally.

[i albion]

I too, when I first heard this thought it was a joke ,there is something very wrong with Gordon Brown!

[Mark Williams]

This is a surprising award to say the least. Kennedy was not renown for his friendliness towards the UK, and indeed in the 1970's was very vocal about the presence of troops in N Ireland, even if his connections with extreme nationalism are tenuous.

The cynic in me can't help wondering whether this was a gesture made to secure Brown's speech - the US aurhorities being aware that Kennedy had views on the politics of the British Isles whilst not caring too much about the details, so the announcement of an award to a dying Senator might have been too much for the house authorities to deny Brown his speech.

[Malcolm Dunn]

There are many Americans who have been very good friends to Britain. Ted Kennedy is not one of them. A very strange decision indeed.
I'm sure the many victims of IRA terror will be really pleased that their semi apologist has been knighted-not. How about a Peerage for Gerry Adams while we're about it?

[Old Hack]

I'll always remember the GOP convention rebuttal slogan to Ted's 'Where was George' speech to the '88 Democratic convention.

The slogan? 'Sober, dry and home with his wife.'

[JS]

I completely agree with Lord Tebbit. To say the least this 'honour' is a calculated insult to all like him and Lady Tebbit who suffered so much at the hands of the IRA. It is an even worse slap in the face for the very many families of all those like Airey Neave and my friend Ian Gow who were murdered by the terrorists. Thank God we now have relative peace in Northern Ireland but that does not obliterate the past. No one who encouraged such terror in any way should be rewarded.

[Paul D]

On the plus side, it may make the UUP's sole MP a bit less inclined to vote with the government and a bit friendlier towards the new partnership

[Eirinnach]

The comments are rubbish. Kennedy did far more than most to bring the IRA to the table - his gut recation may have been to support the republicans (as is the case with most of the Irish diaspora) but he listened to John Hume and essentially backed the SDLP to the hilt.

People who libel here need to present some evidence. prejudice doesn't cut it.

[Marjorie Baylis]

I can't think where Gordon Brown is coming from on this - is it because of the sympathy aroused by the brain tumour?

Well, let's speculate on who else can receive an honour for the betterment of British society.... Vladimir Putin, Robert Mugabe being elevated to the Lords? The Labour party have made so many apalling judgements since they came to office. I almost wonder whether as they realise their time has come, if they are playing a joke with us - what is the next thing we can do to infuriate the thinking British public!

[Peter Golds]

An earlier favourite was "No one drowned in Watergate".

People also forget how he cheated at Harvard, but then cheating has been a life long theme of the man.

Perhaps better was an earlier comment, if he had been just Edward Moore as opposed to Edward Moore Kennedy, then he would not have ended up in the Senate.

[Trevor Dowden]

This Knighthood was the price of the audience for the DIOT with the new Emperor of the SSUSA.

How low have we sunk that we give "honours" to such unworthy philandering lowlife.

Please Mr Cameron, when you are elected take steps to restore our honour and our pride in our nation.

[YourNameHere]

Totally agree with Tebbit. Kennedy is no friend of the UK, and no friend of peace makers.

The honour is a total disgrace.

[Rupert Matthews]

I'm not aware that any of the Kennedys - back about 4 generations anyway - were ever great friends of Britain.

[David Cooper]

Look on the bright side - Simon Heffer's Saturday piece in the Telegraph is hardly going to let slip an opportunity to speak through gritted teeth about "the person who we must now call Sir Edward Kennedy".

On the serious side, of course, it is a disgrace. I also seem to remember the deliberate snub to Margaret Thatcher when he turned up to a formal Washington dinner in her honour wearing a green tie and refused to join in any of the applause.

[Alan Carcas]

It is a matter of historical record that the Kennedy family, particularly father Joseph Kennedy, is no friend to Great Britain. Of course, NuLabour has no use for history, but, who wants history when you are scrabbling in the dust, like Gordon Brown, for approval from others.

[Josephine]

I couldn't agree more with Mr Tebbit.

I'd say more, but I am afraid that would involve lots of *!**# words....

[steve foley]

I was disgusted when I heard this. Apart from JFK who had a good relationship with Harold Mac Millan, the other Kennedys were no friends of Britain. Old Joe Kennedy, one time US Ambassador to the UK, considered us to be written off at the start of WW2 and wanted the USA to stay out of that war. Ted Kennedy often spoke out against Britain in the Senate during our conflict with the IRA over Ulster.

Brown is a fool to give him this honour and Kennedy a lying hypocrite to accept it.

Alas, the honour of a Knighthood has been sullied in recent years as even greedy failed bankers can get one. I'm happy to stick with "Mr" as my only title.

[Adrian Butterworth]

The honours system was cheapened long long ago but this is a complete outrage. Ted Kennedy is one of the nastiest, most disgusting characters in American Politics who has done everything to harm the interests of this country and his own. Most significant of all he was responsible for the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. This has been the single most destructive piece of legislation in all of American history. It will be remebered as the Act which turned America into a third world cesspool forever.

[Eirinnach]

Old Joe Kennedy, one time US Ambassador to the UK, considered us to be written off at the start of WW2

Like Lord Halifax, Douglas Holm and RAB Butler then.

[Jason O'Mahony]

Can't help thinking the anti-Kennedyism amongst the Tory right stems primarily from the fact that a family so closely identified with Irish Catholicism became so powerful, indeed more powerful than they were. Be honest, doesn't the phrase "Irish-American" make the hairs rise on the backs of your necks?

[Walter West]

In reply to Jason O'Mahony (11:25) - not at all. I don't have a problem with Ted Kennedy getting a knighthood because of his background, I object to him getting it because I don't think he deserves one.

[Seymour Major]

I agree with the award.

If he had a connection with the IRA, I would not agree with it but there is absolutely no evidence of such a connection. He has been sympathetic to the republican movement in Northern Ireland. I dont agree that is a criterion for not giving an award. Let us not forget that one Nationalist, at least, has been elevated to the Lords (the late Gerry Fitt)

If you are with me on the point that political opinion should not be a bar to an award, focus on the reason why the award has been given. He has played a crucial part swinging the Irish American community behind the peace process. Were it not for that, there may still be fund raising in that community for dissident republicans.

I dont like EK particularly but he has ticked the boxes. It is a timely award. We have our relationship with the US to think about.

Tories, focus on the bigger picture and lets not allow political bigotry (particularly when questioning Gordon Brown's judgment) to get in the way of our broader sense of where our national interest should lie.

[Glyn Chambers]

I agree with all of the comments made above that correctly point out how awful this is.

However, when the country is run by a cabal of anti-patriots, this is what you get.

[A Reformed Labour Voter]

I'm a fully paid up opponent of the Honours System and this just typifies the injustice and pointlessness of it all.

Soon Blair and Brown will be awarded Knighthoods or Peerages. For starting unnecessary wars, destroying the fabric of our society and wrecking our economy.

Anything they've got, you don't want.

But can someone please explain, what was Ted Kennedy awarded this for? Leaving the scene of an accident? Alcoholism? Supporting the IRA?

Yet another poisonous weed growing of of the left-wing dung heap.

[Arthur Barker]

Isn't it about time that we in Britain grew up. Knighthoods and lords belong to our medieval past and are long past their sell by dates and should be abolished. While this is being done the House of Lords should be abolished and an elected chamber be substituted then unpopular persons such as Mandelson, who would never be elected would not be sneaked back into the legislative process.

[Tom FD]

Meh. This is the same government that gave honours to the likes of Fred Goodwin...

[steve foley]

For good or ill we no longer have a British Empire so awards such as MBE, OBE, CBE etc are a bit anachronistic. Perhaps we need to modernise the Honours System to reflect this fact?

BTW what happened to all the "People's Peers" that Blair promised? Have any actually been enabled from names nominated by the man or woman in the street or was this, as I suspect, a means for Blair to get donors, hacks, political mates etc into the Lords?

[Praguetory]

" Can't help thinking the anti-Kennedyism amongst the Tory right stems primarily from the fact that a family so closely identified with Irish Catholicism became so powerful, indeed more powerful than they were. Be honest, doesn't the phrase "Irish-American" make the hairs rise on the backs of your necks? "

Speaking as an Catholic Tory with Irish roots, the only person I see displaying prejudice is you. A ridiculous knee-jerk reaction from somebody looking for anti-Catholicism where it doesn't exist.

[bill]

We should abolish the honours system with perhaps the exception of martial ones.

[Alex F Wysocki]

If justice had prevailed Ted Kennedy would have spent some jail time, as required by the law, for his cowardly act of leaving the scene of an accident without reporting it.

An aside: As a conservative American I'm embarrassed that we have a vice president, Joe Biden, who had to plagiarize one of your blokes, Niel Kinnock, to establish that he was of common stock. Strange doings! Sir Kennedy, give me a break. Alex F Wysocki

[Steevo]

"One ghastly creep rewarding another." :)

I read a few comments on this from American blogs and they had a laugh. For what its worth, the man has done more to destroy our country than yours. He's a total partisan hack and a disgrace to virtue.

[Mark Williams]

I would also like to point out that Rebecca Adlington won two gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in the 400m and 800m and she only got an OBE.

[Eirinnach]

Well done Seymour Major. Good to see someone has been paying attention.

Aspiring to a united Ireland is not the same as being an IRA supporter and Kennedy has travelled the road from emotional reaction to the collapse of the organge statelet that was the old Northern Ireland in an orgey of sectarian violence to a deeper understanding of how democratic change can take place. In doing so he has taken a lot of Irish Americans with him. More than that, he was able to exert real pressure - when it mattered - on Sinn Fein and the IRA.

The fact that his father was once a defeatist is neither here nor there - at least one postwar Tory PM wanted to effectively surrender to Hitler in 1940, after all.

Most of the rest of you are a walking advertisement for how the nasty party is alive and well.

[John Coles]

Sir Edward Kennedy, Hero of Chappaquidick.

[TGD]

Posted by: Eirinnach | March 05, 2009 at 13:51

What an idiot you are. The nasty party? What as compared to the completely useless party. The party that trashes the economy every time it gets power. The party that seeks to reward the feckless at the expense of the hardworking prudent. The part that seeks active race replacement. The party that seeks to disenfranchise the indigenous populace. The party that has more in common with INGSOC than any party that has ever ruled this land. Please go away and play your childish games somewhere else.

[Leonard Jarvis]

Ted Kennedy is a disgrace to the USA and knighting him does nothing for longterm UK - USA relations. The peace process came about because the IRA realised that 25 years of violence had not increased support for a united Ireland.

[A Hutchinson]

Could Gordon be giving an award to Kennedy as a way of finding favour with Americans in readiness for a lucrative lecture circuit, just like his old friend Tony? Gordon is due to be booted out of office very shortly, after all.

[martin sewell]

Seymour Major should remember that the IRA only began to come to the table once the White House was occupied by a man who, whatever criticism one may have of him, was a man of his word. Once he declared a "War on Terror" the days of easy American money and the soft ride were over. If anyone deserves an honour for services to Peace in Ulster it's Dubya. Perhaps DC may remember this.

I also want to flag up that nobody drowned at Chappaquidick either.

Poor Mary Jo Koppechnie suffocated in an air pocket whilst the future conscience of the Democratic Party walked to his hotel room, showered, called his lawyer and then raised the alarm. The signs of suffocation were noted by the experienced undertaker. In Kennedy country there was no inquest. The parents in those days were silenced by the clan. No Cindy Sheehan type emoting then.

Kennedy was also skulking around the undergrowth when a younger member of the Kennedy clan was accused of rape in a similar Kennedy boyish jape.

If any of this attached to Dubya we would never hear the last of it.

A final thought: do you think any of the BBC's usual comedians who love to target George Bush or Sarah Palin will have any satirical comments directed towards this target rich environment? - No, me neither.

[Tommy]

"Can't help thinking the anti-Kennedyism amongst the Tory right stems primarily from the fact that a family so closely identified with Irish Catholicism became so powerful, indeed more powerful than they were."

More powerful than who? One could say that anti-kennedyism on the tory right stems from the fact that they were 'irish catholics', although I personally wouldn't.
But that wouldn't explain the hostility from the tory left as shown in the earlier comments from people like Sally Roberts

"Be honest, doesn't the phrase "Irish-American" make the hairs rise on the backs of your necks?"

I think I may be missing something. Why would anybody not like the term 'irish-american'?

"Most of the rest of you are a walking advertisement for how the nasty party is alive and well."

I fear that your support for Ted Kennedy stems from your support of Irish republicanism rather than any objective reasoning. Regardless of his views on the political status of Northern Ireland, Ted Kennedy is responsible for the death of one young lady and should therefore never have even been considered for an honour.

PS I believe that 'Eireannach', is the correct spelling. Of all of the spelling mistakes in your comments (there are quite a few) this one really is unforgivable.

PPS I'm the first generation of my (Catholic) Irish family to be born in Britain, so I don't think I can be accused of any anti-irish or anti-catholic sentiment.

[Fredrik Ingemarsson]

Arise, MyLord Edward Moore Kennedy of Chappaquiddick. Slayer of Mary Jo Kopechne,
Duke of Massachusetts and Village Idiot of Washington D . C

[Frankland Macdonald Wood]

So, we now award a knighthood to a foreigner who supports our enemies, who is a drunk, a socialist abd well-known 'faller-off-of-bridges'. Can Zanulabour sink any lower? Well, probably yes! Get ready for your peerage Mr Mugabe.

[Fredrik Ingemarsson]

Wait, I got it wrong, Arise, MyLord Edward Moore Kennedy of Chappaquiddick,Slayer of Mary Jo Kopechne, Duke of Massachusetts and the MOST RIGHT HONORABLE Village Idiot of Washington D . C

[David Lindsay]

Sir Ted Kennedy? Oh, why not? People who have done far more damage to this country have had it, and not just honorarily. And they haven’t done anything in the bread-and-butter interests of their own country’s working families. In cases such as that of Sir Fred Goodwin, quite the reverse, in fact.

As for Northern Ireland, well, he won in the end, didn’t he? To the victors the spoils, I suppose. He never understood the first thing about it, but that is not a peculiarly American (or Nationalist) fault.

As a result of all-round ignorance, Northern Ireland now contains at least four entirely separate societies, each of them maintained one way or another at the expense of the mainland British taxpayer: a Tory one, an Irish Catholic and Old Labour one, a Protestant fundamentalist and working-class populist one, and a Marxist one which is nevertheless obsessed with the stage-Irishness of things like the language.

None of these any longer has any parallel in the Republic. No one who matters there is still attached to the old Catholic Ireland, or ever was to Old Labour economic policy. And pretty much no one at all in interested in the Irish-speaking but Marxist Ireland envisaged by Sinn Féin, which, particularly in education, it is now busily constructing with British money within the United Kingdom.

Not that that poses any threat to the other three tribes. There are also still, for example, state schools for the Old Labour Catholics, and others for the Tories and for the Protestant fundamentalist working class. Those latter two are not formally separate from each other (not yet, anyway), but they are effectively so in the same way that middle-class and working-class state schools function as two entirely separate systems over here.

Anyone who wishes to live either in the old Catholic Ireland (but with much better social provisions) or in Sinn Féin Land should now move to Northern Ireland. If already there, they should be making every effort to ensure that Northern Ireland remains in the United Kingdom, the only country prepared to pay for either.

The Republic certainly wouldn’t.

And nor would the “Irish America” of Senator Sir Edward Kennedy.

[Clarke V. Jester]

How is it possible that the son of Joe Kennedy, the boot leger, who did in fact abandon a young lady but got himself out of the car be considered for any award what ever. God help us all. Clarke Jester, Bear, Delaware

[Adrian]

“The high office of the President has been used to foment a plot to destroy the Americans freedom and before I leave office I must inform the Citizen of his plight.”
John F Kennedy
Warnings from history

Kennedy's Executive Order 1110

[Jack Stone]

Ted kennedy as done more to help the poor and the sick in America than any Conservative politican as ever done in this country. He believed in an United Ireland. He believed that the Irish should rule themselves. Don`t a lot of those attacking him think the same about Britain.
Ted Kennedy deserves his knighthood for the public service he as given all his life. Its a shame that so many Conservative politicans in this country seem not to know the meaning of the word service let alone give it.

[Walter West]

He may well have helped the poor and sick - but that doesn't excuse his utterly reprehensible behaviour at Chappaquiddick.

He may well have believed in united the island of Ireland as one state, but that does not excuse his behaviour towards 'the Irish question' (it was only 9/11 that seemed to convince him that acts of terror were actually pretty horrific when they happen).

He may well have given public service and spent a lifetime doing it - but I don't think that can negate some of his more questionable behaviour.

I'm not saying that Senator Kennedy hasn't done many good things, but there are some acts in a person's history that cannot simply be brushed under the carpet.

[Onemarcus]

For those who accuse others of being anti-cathloic because they opposse the knighthood for this apologist for terror are the same as those who call those who argue for immmigration control racist.

This and and his family (expect probably JFK) were never a friend of this country and if they did not do it themselves they definetly did nothing to stop the millions raised for funding the terrorists. As soemone who spent their childhood in London in the 70s and 80's I remember hearing several of the bombs the Irish-American funded going off and I was in Whitehall when they tried for the second time to try and tear apart our democracy by murdering our Government with a Mortor bomb. I could have been like thousands of others, one of the thousands killed and permently disabled by the terrorists. I remmeber cheering the young soldier in Northern Ireland who told Ted Kennedy where to go.

[Mark Williams]

"Ted kennedy as done more to help the poor and the sick in America than any Conservative politican as ever done in this country."

Nonsense. The Conservatives have fully supported the NHS ever since its inception. US healthcare doesn't come close.

[Super Blue]

"Can't help thinking the anti-Kennedyism amongst the Tory right stems primarily from the fact that a family so closely identified with Irish Catholicism became so powerful, indeed more powerful than they were. Be honest, doesn't the phrase "Irish-American" make the hairs rise on the backs of your necks?"

No, Jason. To those of us who know any history, there wouldn't be a Conservative party without Edmund Burke who was Irish and a Catholic. Why do you see prejudice where there is none, I wonder?

[mollymaguire]

All this screaming about IRA terrorism and not one acknowledgment of the long centuries of state-terrorism and oppression inflicted on the Irish people by your precious Crown. Typical Anglo-Saxon selective morality, but Tory, ironically, an Irish word for "robber", so you can't plead lack of self-knowledge. The real scandal regarding Kennedy accepting this tinsel prize from Tin Lizzy is all his. Anyone who is Irish or of Irish descent, no matter where they are born, whether Teddy, Bono, or Paul McCartney, who accepts a knighthood, honorary or otherwise, from the British crown, is a traitor to their heritage and is guilty of spitting on their ancestor's graves. But McCartney's an obsequious twit, Bono's a megalomaniacal prig, and Teddy's a man without honor or morals. The Irish government should demand that Bono should either renounce his knighthood or his Irish citizenship, and as for Teddy, the U. S. constitution explicitly prohibits titles of nobility (that's why we are, supposedly, a republic, not a bloody monarchy like you lot), and it's about time that the US government halt these wannabe aristocrats from turning the Senate into another worthless House of Lords.

[Dave J]

Mary Jo Kopechne was unavailable for comment.

[Dave J]

"... the U. S. constitution explicitly prohibits titles of nobility..."

No it doesn't: it prohibits Congress from creating them and federal officeholders from accepting them without Congressional approval. It contains no prohibition on private citizens accepting (or inheriting) them.

Besides, a knighthood is NOT a title of nobility: a peerage is.

[Tommy]

"He believed that the Irish should rule themselves"

Really? Most believe in democracy, its a shame the two aren't compatable.

"Typical Anglo-Saxon selective morality"

Contrary to popular belief the anglo-saxons did not displace the original celtic population of britain, ergo the british and irish are effectively the same genetically.

"All this screaming about IRA terrorism and not one acknowledgment of the long centuries of state-terrorism and oppression inflicted on the Irish people by your precious Crown."

I acknowledge it, although I wouldn't call it terrorism. It was deeply regrettable and you will find that britain has apologised hundreds of times. But I do not believe in an eye for an eye.

Two wrongs do not make a right.

"the U. S. constitution explicitly prohibits titles of nobility"

A knighthood is not a form of nobility.

Anglophobia is not as rampant in RoI as all of the (allegedly) irish commenters would have us believe.

[Praguetory]

"Anyone who is Irish or of Irish descent, no matter where they are born, whether Teddy, Bono, or Paul McCartney, who accepts a knighthood, honorary or otherwise, from the British crown, is a traitor to their heritage and is guilty of spitting on their ancestor's graves."

Take a hike, you racist.

[Super Blue]

"Mollymaguire": I disagree with you 99% but note your point that "Teddy's a man without honour or morals".

Alex: Yes, Biden must have been desperate to select Kinnock to plagiarise. I sympathise with you having to put up with him as Vice-President for four years - with a bit of luck, Obama will only trust him to make the coffee.

[Jason O'Mahony]

" Speaking as an Catholic Tory with Irish roots, the only person I see displaying prejudice is you. A ridiculous knee-jerk reaction from somebody looking for anti-Catholicism where it doesn't exist."

I suspect that many of the people opposed to this would not what would be regarded as "friends of Ireland"

Don't forget, Ted Kennedy faced down extreme republicanism both north and south to support Mrs Thatcher's Anglo Irish Agreement.

[Malcolm Dunn]

You can suspect all you like Jason. The fact remains that Teddy Kennedy is a disgrace both as a politician but more importantly as a man.

[Ben Archibald]

@ Eirinneach 11:13 yesterday;

Who on earth is this Douglas Holm character and why on earth should we worry about him? i think we should be told. I think I remember the story about Ted Kennedy asking (I think in 1980) where Bush Snr had been during Iran Contra, and PJ O'Rourke responding 'At home, dry and sober with the kids'. Exactly; this is what qualifies for a K under Brown

[Derek W. Buxton]

Honours should go to honourable people, emphasis on honourable. They should only be given for work over and above that paid for normally. No civil servant or politician should get an honour as of right, end of story.

Derek

[AlanofEngland]

Remember Anthony Blunt, Jack Lyons, who I think had knighthoods removed. Just let the Tories do the same to Kennedy if they don't agree with him having it!

[Edward Huxley]

Read Simon Heffer on this in the Telegraph today.