Sir Philip Green is Britain’s newly crowned “unacceptable face of capitalism”, joining a cast of corporate cads who besmirch our leaders’ image of thrusting enterprise. The soubriquet was awarded to Lonrho’s “Tiny” Rowland by then-Premier Edward Heath in 1973, and grasped later by the appalling Robert Maxwell. Both cases resulted in loud public declarations that such behaviour would never be allowed to happen again.

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For all their wealth, Rowland and Maxwell were quite genuinely non-establishment figures. Neither received a knighthood, for example, a particular oddity given Maxwell’s self-proclaimed influence within Labour circles.

Over the last two decades, excessive capitalism has become perhaps more acceptable to the political classes. Ironically for Sir Philip – subject of a damning Commons report into his handling of British Home Stores, a company which was milked for hundreds of millions before being sold for just £1 to a “manifestly unsuitable” buyer – his fate may include a very public expulsion from the establishment’s top club.

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The “systematic plunder” of BHS has led to calls on our new Prime Minister to make an example of him during this new post-Brexit mood. In the old days he might have been put in stocks and had cabbages thrown at him.

Apart from rhetoric, there is little Theresa May can actually throw at Sir Philip. He does not appear to have broken the law, and his behaviour carries the sheen of the professional money men who seem to collect massive fees often just for making any deal look good, whatever its nature.

In his role as capitalism’s new Dick Dastardly – the Commons’ report actually compares him to Napoleon – Sir Philip may feel obliged to offer jobs to some former employees, or to pump money, lots of it, into the depleted pension fund. But as work and pensions’ committee chairman Frank Field MP acknowledged, his crimes are more moral than real. The profiteering, the tax avoidance, the downright brassneck are all defensible in law. Grasping at straws, Mr Field points to a “moral duty” to make good the losses. As Sir Philip himself might respond, big deal. Taxpayers may end up meeting much of the pensions’ shortfall.

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Faced with this dilemma, the British establishment could well resort to – wait for it – revoking the man’s knighthood. Thus the world might know truly that he has behaved as a true cad.

So Sir Philip – or plain old Mr Green as he would become – may join the ranks of ignominy. Make way at the devil’s table, plain old Fred “the Shred” Goodwin, disgraced “Master of the Universe” at RBS. And tell that traitor Anthony Blunt to shuffle along the bench.

Decisions like this are not ten-a-penny, but they do appear to be on the increase. Either honours are being handed out too often to the undeserving – perish the thought – or public opinion is now more likely to demand punishment.

The practicalities are handled by the Cabinet Office’s honours forfeiture committee, which investigates controversial cases and makes a recommendation to the monarch. In the old days, typical revocations involved highly-decorated military chaps who might subsequently have fallen foul of the law, or “traitors” such as the Irish nationalist Roger Casement, hanged for his association with the 1916 Easter Rising.

The Kaiser and numerous relatives were shorn of various British gongs after having the audacity to declare war in 1914. Let us not forget previous recipients of British patronage have included Benito Mussolini, Nicolae Ceausescu and Robert Mugabe, each of them stripped of honours when it emerged they were not, actually, the right sort.

More recent transgressors have included business figures. Successive governments have been infatuated with the wealthy, and naïve enough to turn a blind eye to unscrupulous behaviour. James Crosby, ex-head of Halifax Bank of Scotland, offered to renounce his knighthood as soon as the official report into its collapse was published. This is like a footballer committing a foul and leaving the field before the referee has had time to issue a red card.

Does it really hurt to be stripped of a knighthood? Most of us will never know. Looking at Sir Philip’s lifestyle – the luxury yachts, extravagant parties, the bevies of beautiful women – he may see it either as a highly-valued status symbol, or just another bauble received simply for being rich and powerful.

Our politicians never seem to learn. It has been reported David Cameron’s resignation honours list is delayed because of questionable nominations involving friends, former staff or party donors. The absurdity of the British honours system, the ease with which the gongs have been doled out, and their tarnishing by corporate excess, all signal that losing a knighthood is no big deal because its value is ultimately diminished.