Parliament should have the power to strip knighthoods from Tory “cronies” like Sir Philip Green, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said yesterday.

Sir Green is set to be hauled in front of MPs to answer questions over his part in the demise of high street giant BHS, which employs 11,000 workers and was put into administration last week.

The company has a whopping £571 million deficit in the pension fund — but the tycoon took £586m in dividends from the business over 15 years before selling it last March for £1.

Speaking at a workers’ memorial day rally in London yesterday, the shadow chancellor said it was an example of the “elite in this country that is increasingly out of touch.”

“Cocooned by their wealth and power, they don’t think the same rules apply to them as the rest of us,” he said.

That means we get economic decisions made in the interests of the very few, and not the many.”

Mr Green faced calls this week to repay the dividend or surrender his knighthood.

But Mr McDonnell believes MPs should be able to remove honours for the likes of him and Sir Bernard Ingham, who has refused to apologise for saying Liverpool fans had caused the Hillsborough disaster by behaving like “tanked up yobs.”

And he said: “Parliament should have the right to strip honours from individuals, not civil servants.

“Transparency and democracy will help restore faith in this system.

“And we will take the power back from elites and faceless bureaucrats and give it to the people to decide whether the Bernard Inghams and Philip Greens of this world keep their titles or not.”

lukejames@peoples-press.com