Whitehall may strip Sir Fred of knighthood

Disgraced banker Sir Fred Goodwin could be stripped of his knighthood, MPs said today.

Whitehall officials who deal with honours are believed to have begun considering formally whether to remove his title, awarded for "services to banking".

It follows fury among ministers that the man blamed for almost destroying the Royal Bank of Scotland managed to walk away, at the age of just 50, with a £16 million pension paying him £693,000 a year for life.

The suggestion that he could now lose his "Sir" emerged at Westminster after a group of officials who deal with honours met MPs on the Public Administration Committee.

The officials refused to disclose during a public hearing whether the case was being considered by the Forfeiture Committee, which is empowered to investigate such cases and make recommendations.

But committee chairman Tony Wright said after the meeting: "I think the subtext of what we were being told today was that it was being considered by them."

Sir Fred was knighted with Gordon Brown's backing in 2004. The Forfeiture Committee has stripped 28 people of honours since 1995, including boxer Naseem Hamed who lost his MBE after being jailed for dangerous driving.