The poet Benjamin Zephaniah has publicly rejected an OBE from the Queen in protest against the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Writing in the Guardian today, Zephaniah says: "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."