Charlie Mullins will not be stripped of his OBE after the Honours Forfeiture Committee dropped a second investigation into comments he made about Channel migrants.
The businessman had been reported by a member of the public, who alleged that a post on X was racist. Mr Mullins said his reference to “the jungle” meant migrant camps in northern France, including the former Calais Jungle.
His post, written during a discussion about the small boats crisis, said: “Paying tax does not bother me I’ve paid over £ 100 m in personal tax in my lifetime.”
It continued: “What bothers me what they spend our tax on anybody but English, They will. never get another penny off of me to give all the illegals and the ponces, Send them back to the jungle.”
The Pimlico Plumbers founder received a letter from the committee in June informing him that the tweet was being investigated. His lawyers later submitted a 26-page document arguing that he should retain the honour.
Mr Mullins said the term “jungle” was commonly used to describe migrant settlements around Calais and Dunkirk, pointing in particular to the camp known as the Calais Jungle, which existed from 2015 to 2016.
“They were trying to claim I was being racist by using the word ‘jungle’, but that’s what everyone refers to these camps as – including all the newspapers,” he told the Mail.
“When I said ‘Send them back to the jungle’ I meant the migrant camps. I’m told they’re not very nice to live in and that’s exactly what I meant. Then by ponces, I meant the illegals scrounging off taxpayers.”
The decision is the second time the multi-millionaire has faced the prospect of losing his OBE, which was awarded in 2015 for services to plumbing.
In September 2024, the committee raised concerns about a series of posts, including one in which he said “someone should kill” London Mayor Sadiq Khan during a discussion about London’s Ulez scheme. It also referred to remarks about Carol Vorderman, employing transgender people and an alleged racist joke at the British Curry Awards.
Mr Mullins’ lawyers argued that the threshold for forfeiture had not been met and that his remarks were protected by freedom of expression. They also said he had been experiencing mental health problems at the time and had apologised.
He was later told that no action would be taken, after his legal submissions and a pledge to undertake “gender sensitivity and diversity training”.
Mr Mullins said he believed the latest investigation was politically motivated and linked it to his support for Reform. “They’ve now tried twice to take my OBE away,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s come from him personally. It’s the Labour government. It’s politically motivated.”
The committee is convened on an ad hoc basis by the Prime Minister and chaired by senior civil servant Dame Sarah Healey.
Mr Mullins, who now lives in Marbella, left the UK in 2024 after saying he wanted to avoid what he described as Rachel Reeves’ “tax raids”. He was previously a Conservative supporter and donated £22,735 to the party in 2015, the year he received his OBE.
He has said his new plumbing and home-services company, WeFix, will not work for Labour MPs. A Government spokesman has previously rejected claims that the forfeiture process is politically motivated, saying the committee is “entirely apolitical” and that no ministers or political appointees are involved in its decision-making.
