Roy Bailey follows in the footsteps of The Beatles

Folk singer Roy Bailey has returned his MBE in disgust at Tony Blair's Middle-East policy, having been inspired to do so by the similar move of nurse Suzy Wighton.

Bailey explains his actions:

“In the end I had to do what felt right. Suzy Wighton’s article did focus me. When I read her argument I thought, ‘I can’t disagree with any of this’. I thought I should commit myself to doing this so I made my own statement and returned my own MBE.

“I wrote to her and congratulated her for her stand because it did help me focus on the issue.”

The lifelong Labour supporter added that he considered Blair’s support of US foreign policy a “betrayal” of the party’s values.

“ When it comes to waging an illegal war in Iraq, the killing of innocent people in Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq and now Lebanon, I can no longer accept as an ‘honour’, a recommendation supported by the Prime Minister, that I be awarded the MBE. Tony Blair insists his decisions are in support of democracy. We cannot bomb people into accepting democracy any more than we could slaughter people into accepting Christianity.”

Somehow, we suspect that Bailey's action is heartfelt; unlike, say, Paul McCartney's return of his MBE as an anti-Vietnam protest. A few years later, Macca got over his problems with UK foreign policy well enough to take a knighthood, and he hasn't seemed that bothered about sending it back since.

music tony blair roy bailey suzy wighton lebanon