The leading poet Benjamin Zephaniah has publicly rejected an OBE from the Queen in protest at British government policies, including the decision to go to war in Iraq.
Writing exclusively in the Guardian today, Zephaniah breaks with the convention that those rejecting honours should do so privately when he openly dismissed the award as a legacy of colonialism.
The Rastafarian poet argues that the very name of the Order of the British Empire reminds him of "thousands of years of brutality - it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised".
Zephaniah also challenges the prime minister to clarify the "suspicious circumstances" surrounding his cousin's death in police custody.
Zephaniah was perhaps an unusual choice to be nominated for an OBE: one of his poems, Bought and Sold, criticises contemporaries who compromise their work by accepting honours.
Today, he condemns those who permit ego to win out over artistic integrity. Courting popular figures with honours is "what cool Britannia is all about", he writes. "It gives OBEs to cool rock stars, successful businesswomen and blacks who would be militant in order to give the impression that it is inclusive." He feels such people with OBEs after their names have "been had".
The poet writes: "Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought ... You can't fool me, Mr Blair. You want to privatise us all; you want to send us to war; you stay silent when we need you to speak for us, preferring to be the voice of the USA."
Zephaniah joins the ranks of luminaries such as the actor Helen Mirren and the film director Ken Loach who turned down similar honours. In keeping with the request of the prime minister's office, however, they kept tight-lipped about the offer until some years later.
Downing Street refused to comment on the poet's rejection. A spokesman said: "We don't discuss honours lists. It is a matter for Mr Zephaniah."