Red carpet: Williams with his wife Ayda
A decision to award Robbie Williams an honour was overturned because he had used a controversial investment scheme.
The former Take That singer was nominated for a gong last year for his charity work and success as a pop star.
The honours committee initially granted him an OBE but later decided against it following an intervention by the taxman.
Williams, 45, is the first celebrity known to have fallen foul of a new ‘honours blacklist’ for wealthy individuals with question marks over their tax affairs. The rules came in shortly after he was nominated for an OBE.
The senior HMRC civil servant who informed the honours committee of its veto suggested Williams was himself to blame.
‘If you do not pay your dues to the Athenaeum you cannot expect to enjoy the benefits,’ the official reportedly said, referring to a Pall Mall club frequented by Whitehall mandarins.
In addition, Williams had challenged HMRC over his tax affairs – which is also said to have been a factor in the scrapping of his OBE. ‘They did not like the fact that he had contested the matter,’ said an insider.
‘It came up in discussions about whether to give him an award.’
Another Take That singer, Gary Barlow, was embroiled in a similar controversy but kept his OBE. He had to pay back millions to HMRC because he took part in a scheme judged to be an artificial tax shelter.
Barlow, 48, said it was ‘stupidest thing I have ever done’. He and fellow Take That members Howard Donald, 51, and Mark Owen, 47, had to repay £20million. They insisted they had believed the investments were legitimate enterprises and had all paid significant tax.
The former Take That singer (left) was nominated for a gong last year for his charity work and success as a pop star. Another Take That singer Gary Barlow (right) was embroiled in a similar controversy but kept his OBE
The scandal emerged days after Barlow’s OBE was announced.
David Cameron criticised the singer, who campaigned with the Tories in the 2010 election, saying aggressive tax avoidance was wrong. However, the former prime minister said he should be allowed to keep his award because of his charity work.
Williams, who is the highest selling British solo singer, was nominated for an OBE for his ‘contribution to the entertainments industry and Soccer Aid charity’.
But in 2015 it emerged he was one of 140 celebrities linked to a film investment scheme. He was said to have paid £2million to investment firm Ingenious Media.
Set up to help people defer their tax liability, it required a £50,000 stake.
