As it is revealed that the late Baroness Thatcher attempted to get Jimmy Savile knighted four times, we call for a wholescale review of the British honours system
Today, The Independent revealed that it took the late Margaret Thatcher four attempts to get the late Jimmy Savile knighted.
Whilst clearly Thatcher showed poor judgement in not listening to those, such as Lord Armstrong, who clearly informed her of the “difficult[ies]” of giving a title to a man now revealed as one of Britain’s most prolific paedophiles, she was not alone in supporting this now disgraced individual.
Edward Heath’s government awarded Savile an MBE in 1971 and Tony Blair, William Hague and Gordon Brown amongst others were amongst the many politicians happy to be photographed with him.
Margaret Thatcher made a mistake and a lesson should be learned from this. The honours system in this country needs a top-to-bottom review.
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