Excellence not Empire #renamehonours

A few weeks ago I was in a race equity peer training session led by the very brilliant Tessy Ojo. As we talked and listened I was reminded of the dilemma I faced when invited to accept an OBE. I want NOTHING at all to do with the Empire, yet I DO want the work of my organisation and the people who worked tirelessly for young people's sexual rights to be recognised. 

Poppy Jaman and Polly Neate both honoured by the system were in the same session. We talked afterwards. All three of us had decided to accept an honour despite our absolute rejection of our colonial past. We want a clean break from the past. We want all links between the British Honours System and colonialism to be broken because we really value the high level recognition of the social justice work of our organisations and ourselves.

The letter reproduced below was published in the Times on 30th July 2020. We are now inviting anyone who works in the civil society and public sector who has received an honour to add their name to the list. We want to can continue the conversation and ultimately make sure we achieve our goal: a simple and very important switch from Empire to Excellence. 

As Lisa Power said 'if there must be gongs let them be for Excellence not Empire'.  

If you add your name along with the honour you received in the messages section, we will continue to build a list of those who want the change, and then think about what our next steps are. 

Thanks and very best wishes, Simon, Poppy and Polly

To the Letters Editor, The Times

Re: the British Honours System

We are leaders in civil society and the public sector who have been bestowed an honour as part of the British Honours System.

We are deeply grateful for the recognition of our own work and that of the organisations we represent, and the public validation it gives to the struggle for social justice that we and our organisations have been engaged in, often for decades.

We also believe that our struggle for social justice must recognise the need for the United Kingdom to break from its colonial past and strive for a society that makes efforts to include everyone on equal terms at all levels. This means we are taking a long, hard look at our own organisations and what more we can do to create a fair, equitable and anti-racist society.

As those who are privileged to have been honoured, we invite the government – in consultation with Her Majesty the Queen – to commit to a simple, yet extremely important change in title, so that honours are conferred in the name of British Excellence and not of the British Empire.

1. Lord Victor Abedowale CBE
2. Rhammel Afflick BEM
3. Dame Elizabeth N Anionwu DBE
4. Cathy Ashley OBE
5. Janet Atherton OBE
6. Carl Austin-Behan OBE DL
7. Anna Rose Barker MBE
8. Francine Bates OBE
9. Jonny Benjamin MBE
10. Rob Berkeley MBE
11. Simon Blake OBE
12. Simon Blanchflower CBE
13. Caron Bradshaw OBE
14. Philipa Bragman OBE
15. Christine Burns MBE
16. Gary Buxton MBE
17. Yvonne Veronica Coghill CBE
18. Jonathan Cohen OBE
19. Rachel Coldicutt OBE
20. Duncan Craig OBE
21. Natasha Devon MBE
22. Catherine Diehl MBE
23. Ian Duckmanton OBE
24. Claire Dove CBE 
25. Jonathan Drew MBE
26. Matt Downie MBE
27. Jacqui Dyer OBE
28. David Evans OBE
29. David Fielding MBE
30. Lucy Findlay MBE
31. Tracy Fishwick OBE
32. Arvinda Gohil OBE
33. Bob Green OBE
34. Suzanne Jacob OBE
35. Stephen Hale OBE
36. Vivienne Hayes MBE
37. Charlotte Hill OBE
38. Jo Hobbs 
39. Peter Holbrook CBE
40. Norma Hornby MBE
41. Jane Ide OBE
42. Fozia Irfan OBE
43. Poppy Jaman OBE
44. Davina James-Hannah OBE
45. Reverend Graham Kirk Spriggs
46. Paul Martin OBE
47. John May OBE
48. Neil McDonald MBE
49. Catherine McLeod MBE
50. Ian McPherson OBE
51. Monty Montcrieff MBE
52. Polly Neate CBE
53. Michael O' Connor CBE
54. Ndidi Okezi OBE 
55. Sir Nick Partridge OBE
56. Debbie Pennington MBE
57. Lisa Pinney MBE
58. Lisa Power OBE
59. Katherine Rake OBE
60. Susanne Rauprich OBE
61. Paul Roberts OBE
62. David Robinson OBE
63. Lisa Rodrigues CBE
64. Laura Maria Serrant OBE
65. Tim Sigworth MBE
66. Jasvir Singh OBE
67. Parim Singh MBE
68. Penelope Thompson CBE
69. Sue Tibballs OBE
70. Hugh Thornbery CBE
71. Cath Tomlin MBE
72. Rosie Tressler OBE
73. Miranda Wolpert MBE
74. Sharon White OBE
75. Ed Whiting OBE
76. Steve Wyler OBE