HOW much is a knighthood worth?

In the case of Sir Philip Green, the former boss of the recently-collapsed BHS chain, around £700m, it would appear.

The business tycoon and hobnobber with celebs such as Kate Moss looks in peril of losing his knighthood in the wake of the BHS shambles, which left thousands of employees staring at a future of financial insecurity thanks to the pension deficit in the failed company.

This was a deficit which grew while Sir Philip and his wife took some £300m in dividends from the company before it was sold for the princely sum of £1 to Dominic Chappell, a serial bankrupt and “manifestly unsuitable buyer”, according to the parliamentary committees investigating Sir Philip’s role in this sorry affair.

Calls for Sir Philip to be stripped of his knighthood are intensifying; and last week the Cabinet Office revealed it is reviewing Sir Philip’s knighthood.

Labour MP Frank Field, chairman of the Work and Pensions committee, said Sir Philip’s only hope of keeping his knighthood may be if he pays in full for the BHS pension deficit; and I for one wouldn’t be surprised if that is the route Sir Philip (whose behaviour has been labelled in the report from the committees as the “unacceptable face of capitalism”) decides to take.

Only now, with the loss of the title he earned for services to retail looming large, may he actually decide to see to his moral obligations and stump up the £700m cost of making good the deficit.

As Mr Field commented, Sir Philip has to decide how much that knighthood is worth.

Sir Philip, as well as now being the “unacceptable face of capitalism”, also serves as an illustration of the unacceptable face of the entire honours system. Knighthoods, damehoods and peerages are far too often bestowed on singularly undeserving characters.

Why, for example, was Rod Stewart made a knight? For singing in a croaky voice and getting married a few times? We could all do that. Ditto Elton John and Mick Jagger – such a role model that, at the age of 72, he is about to become a father for the eighth time. This child will be two years younger than his own great-grandchild. Nice.

Honours should not be doled out based on cronyism or celebrity. At Wimbledon, the Royal Box was stuffed with titled and probably soon-to-be-titled celebs and sports stars.

How long before we have Sir Gary Barlow, Sir David Beckham or Sir Lewis Hamilton (not that he was in the Royal Box, having been refused entry last year for assuming that the dress code did not apply to someone as wonderful as himself)?

But the true star of this year’s Royal Box was Joy Lofthouse. She has never been made a dame, unlike, say, Elizabeth Taylor. Yet this sprightly 93-year-old flew Spitfires and Hurricanes on test flights during the Second World War, doing her bit in a very real (and dangerous) sense for her country.

How sad that the powers that be should decide that Sir Philip, with his penchant for super yachts and supermodels, should be deemed more worthy of high honour than the true heroes and heroines of our country. Whether or not Sir Philip pays back the BHS pensions shortfall to save his knighthood – it is time our honours system was well and truly overhauled.