MPs will be set to debate Tony Blair’s knighthood as over 400,000 people have so far signed a petition calling for him to be stripped of the honour.
Mr Blair, 68, was made a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, an honour bestowed upon all bar one of his predecessors.
The ex-Prime Minister has long faced criticism for sending troops into Afghanistan and Iraq, a decision which culminated in a devastating report by Sir John Chilcot in 2016 which found he overplayed evidence about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.
A total of 179 British Armed Forces personnel and Ministry of Defence civilians died serving during the Iraq campaign, while a further 457 were killed during deployment to Afghanistan.
Now a petition calling for Mr Blair’s knighthood to be rescinded has been signed by more than 400,000 people and counting.
It means the honour will now be considered for debate by MPs in Parliament.
At 10,000 signatures, the Government will respond to a petition, but when they reach 100,000, they are ‘almost always debated’, according to the Parliament website.
The petition started by Angus Scott reads:
“Tony Blair is to be knighted with the highest possible ranking in the new year honours list, Buckingham Palace has said.
Sir Tony, who held the keys to No 10 between 1997 and 2007, will be appointed a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry.
“Tony Blair caused irreparable damage to both the constitution of the United Kingdom and to the very fabric of the nation’s society. He was personally responsible for causing the death of countless innocent, civilian lives and servicement in various conflicts. For this alone he should be held accountable for war crimes.
“Tony Blair is the least deserving person of any public honour, particularly anything awarded by Her Majesty the Queen.
“We petition the Prime Minister to petition Her Majesty to have this honour removed.”
The petition can be found here – https://www.change.org/p/the-prime-minister-tony-blair-to-have-his-knight-companion-of-the-most-noble-order-of-the-garter-rescinded
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