JK Rowling reveals she twice turned down a peerage

JK Rowling has revealed she twice turned down a peerage.

Kemi Badenoch has pledged to give an honor to the Harry Potter author, should the Tory MP win the contest to lead her party.

Now, that public leadership campaign promise has led Rowling to say she would turn down a peerage if it were offered.

The 59-year-old writer revealed that she had turned down honors in the past, under Labor and Conservative governments.

Rowling wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “It’s considered bad form to talk about this, but I’ll make an exception given the very particular circumstances.

“I’ve already turned down a peerage twice, once under Labor and once under the Conservatives. If I was offered one a third time, I still wouldn’t take it. It’s not her (Badenoch), it’s me.”

Badenoch had suggested the idea after praising the author’s opposition to transgender ideology.

He said Rowling and Dr Hilary Cass, who led a review of NHS gender identity services for children, were “attacked non-stop by all sorts of weird and mean”.

Asked if she would give Rowling a peerage, Ms Badenoch said: “I would. I don’t know if I would take it. I would definitely give her a peerage.”

Rowling did not give reasons for rejecting a peerage and has not made any public pronouncements about the honor system.

The writer was a long-time Labor supporter but criticized Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and has expressed concern about the party’s stance on gender issues under Sir Keir Starmer.

Other rejects

Rowling is not the only British writer to turn down an honor. JB Priestley turned down a peerage, and Rudyard Kipling twice turned down a knighthood. CS Lewis, Roald Dahl and Aldous Huxley also rejected a KBE.

It is customary for both the offer and any refusal to remain a private matter.

However, some denials have been made public. John Lennon returned his MBE in protest at Britain’s involvement in the Biafra war in Nigeria.

Ribindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet, was knighted by King George V, but later renounced it in protest at the Amritsar massacre.

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