Sir Philip Green might not be a ‘Sir’ for much longer

Sir Philip Green might not be a ‘Sir’ for much longer. MPs have just backed a motion calling for him to be stripped of his title. For now, he remains a ‘Sir’, as the vote today doesn’t have any immediate effect, and MPs are powerless to actually take his title away. Only the Honours Forfeiture Committee can do that, and the committee will now decide whether to ‘cancel and annul’ the billionaire’s beloved gong. Yet given the sentiment on display today, and the level of public anger generally, it’s difficult to see how they won’t side with MPs on this.

Unfortunately, when the committee does come to its decision, we won’t know how they made their minds up, as their discussions are held in secret. But today’s debate was very much in the public eye. And MPs made the most of the opportunity to grandstand. Frank Field had been rifling through his schoolbooks again and was back with his Napoleon analogy.