John Simpson CBE has been told to stop “moaning” and be “more grateful” after suggesting Order of the British Empire honours should be renamed to the Order of “British Excellence”.
BBC world affairs editor Mr Simpson argued renaming Order of the British Empire honours would make them more inclusive – but top Tory Lee Anderson was not impressed.
The Conservative Party deputy chairman told Express.co.uk: “If John doesn’t like his CBE and what it stands for then he’s more than welcome to give it back.
“Imagine being given a medal for a highly-paid job and then moaning about it! If he wants to keep it then he should pipe down, respect our country’s history, and be more grateful.”
Mr Simpson, who said he was “proud” of his CBE, made the plea in a post on social media platform X.
He said: “I’m a proud holder of a CBE, for reporting on the first Gulf War. But the letters stand for ‘Commander of the Order of the British Empire’ — something which has long ceased to exist.
“With a new head of state and a new year, is it time to rename the Order ‘British Excellence’?”
He added in a further post: “About the honours system: MBEs, OBEs, CBEs etc reward ordinary people for doing their jobs well, and are hugely appreciated.
“Renaming the Order would make it even more inclusive. But I don’t believe it should be used to reward people for political services.”
It comes after Mr Simpson was embroiled in controversy last year after he was forced to his employer’s decision not to brand Hamas terrorists.
The publicly-funded broadcaster’s decision came despite the Islamist group being proscribed as terrorists by the British Government and prompted the UK’s first-ever Jewish Defence Secretary Grant Shapps to slap him down.
It also comes amid a row over whether the disgraced former boss of the Post Office Paula Vennells should be forced to hand back her CBE for her role in the horizon scandal currently being dramatised by ITV.
Kevin Hollinrake told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that Ms Vennells, who was chief executive of the Post Office from 2012 to 2019, should give up the honour voluntarily.
The business minister, whose brief includes postal services, said: “Paula Vennells got a CBE for services to the Post Office.
“Ultimately you’ve got responsibility for what happened here, you’re the chief executive, if I was Paula Vennells I would seriously consider handing that back voluntarily at this point in time.”
