PRESS RELEASE
Conservative Peer Lord Ranger has today (Tuesday October 6th) won the right for judicial review of a decision to strip him of his CBE in a landmark legal case.
Lord Ranger, who founded the only British firm to have received five consecutive Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in International Trade, was given the award in 2015 for services to business and community cohesion.
The Honours Forfeiture Committee revoked the award in 2024, citing social media posts and media interviews given by Lord Ranger, but his lawyers argued that there was a legal right to challenge the decision as being disproportionate and an attack on free speech. He has not been convicted or investigated for any crime – the normal threshold for revoking an honour – and was “cancelled”, following complaints from opponents with a vested interest in attacking his good name.
Lord Ranger’s lawyers claimed the Cabinet Office committee had made errors of interpretation, based on incomplete or inaccurate information, consideration of irrelevant information and had violated Lord Ranger’s Article 10 rights of freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Judicial review of a decision to strip a recipient of an honour is unprecedented and will set limits on executive control of the honours system for the first time, bringing greater transparency to a process run by civil servants who to date operated without proper checks and balances. It is the only possible mechanism available to challenge the lawfulness of decisions by public bodies.
The Honourable Mrs Justice Lieven ruled that the forfeiture procedure involves applying criteria, which are capable of largely objective analysis and nothing in the procedure set out in the Forfeiture Handbook makes it inherently unsuitable for judicial review.
In her judgement, she stated: “The revocation of an honour is a highly public decision, which by its nature is likely to attract wide ranging comment and real consequences for the individual… There are moral and ethical judgements to be made in the decision whether to revoke an honour, but these are no different to many decisions that are amenable to judicial review”.
Lord Ranger called on the Cabinet Office and the Forfeiture Committee to reconsider its decision and to take the necessary steps to recommend restoration of his CBE without the need for further litigation. He said:
“I was proud to have been awarded an MBE and CBE after 30 years of service to British business and the Asian community. Rightly, there are strict criteria for the awarding of an honour and the committee’s decision to cancel it humiliated me and caused reputational damage.
The Cabinet Office’s own published guidance expressly states that the Forfeiture Committee is not an investigatory body and that it acts upon the findings of official investigations.
The forfeiture recommendation was materially influenced by information that was unsubstantiated or based on hearsay, while material capable of challenging or mitigating those allegations was not given adequate consideration. The Cabinet Office should have carefully considered all the evidence placed before it before reaching conclusions that had profound consequences for my reputation.
“I am not seeking special treatment but the opposite: the same fairness, evidence-based decision-making and due process that should apply to every citizen. When allegations are made against any individual, particularly where those allegations can affect their reputation, there must be a proper opportunity to challenge them and to have relevant evidence considered.”
Should the Cabinet Office elect instead to continue defending the proceedings, I will pursue the claim to its conclusion and seek recovery of my legal costs.
I have spent a considerable amount of my own money seeking justice and defending my reputation.
It is legitimate to ask whether public money should be used to defend decisions that may themselves have resulted from inadequate consideration of the evidence. I want to thank my legal team for their tireless work in bringing this case and all those who have supported my action, which will bring greater transparency to the honours system for the firsttime”. Lord Ranger’s solicitor is Mark Lewis, from Patron Law.
The case was presented by Tom HickmanKC, from Blackstone Chambers, and Barney McCay, from Landmark Chambers. For more information, please contact Tim Jotischky: timj@thephagroup.com +44 7518 171838.
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