The Cabinet Office’s Forfeiture Committee ruled that his conduct had brought the honours system into disrepute. It cited a June 2023 finding by the House of Lords standards watchdog that he had bullied and harassed Indian journalist Poonam Joshi online, plus his posts about the Sikh community and remarks about Pakistanis. He apologised, but the honour went anyway. Since the committee sits under the Cabinet Office, which the PM oversees, Starmer is named in the case. His lawyer Tom Hickman KC argues the committee used evidence never put to him and breached his free-expression rights. The Cabinet Office’s Christopher Knight KC wants the case dismissed. Lord Ranger keeps his peerage and may approach the European Court of Human Rights.
