Former Royal Bank of Scotland boss stripped of knighthood

Disgraced former boss of the Royal Bank of Scotland was this afternoon stripped of his knighthood by order of the Queen.

31 January 2012, 12:00am

1 min read

'Fred Goodwin received his knighthood for services to banking under the Labour government, before guiding RBS to the brink of collapse in 2008'

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Former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Fred Goodwin has had his knighthood removed.

Goodwin - heavily criticised over his role in the bank's near-collapse in 2008 - was given the honour by the Labour government in 2004.

The Queen's decision followed advice by the Whitehall body, responsible for ensuring the honours system does not fall into disrepute.

Party leaders, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, welcomed the decision, BBC reports. In the past, only convicted criminals or people struck off professional bodies have had knighthoods taken away.

Goodwin oversaw the multi-billion-pound deal to buy Dutch rival ABN Amro at the height of the financial crisis in 2007, which led to RBS having to be bailed out to the tune of £45bn by taxpayers.

According to the Daily Mail, Goodwin received a telephone call at around 3pm, informing him of the Queen's decision.

Chancellor George Osborne told Sky News: "I think we've got a special case here of the Royal Bank of Scotland symbolising everything that went wrong in the British economy over the last decade.

"Fred Goodwin was in charge and I think it's appropriate that he loses his knighthood."

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Maybe someday, someone with guts over here in Malta, will look into detail who where the persons that received 'Gih ir-Repubblika", and they really contributed positively towards soceity or a particular sector, let's say agriculure! A certain person comes to my mind! Probably they knew him well while he was in APEX! Guess who??????????????