Almost 100 people have signed a petition calling for Neil Woodford to be stripped of his CBE for the "terrible harm" he caused.
Andy Agathangelou, founder of Transparency Task Force and co-founder of its Woodford Campaign Group, has led calls for the fund manager to lose his CBE and started a petition, which as of this morning (May 29) had 81 signatures.
The petition sets out the Woodford scandal left thousands of investors with significant losses and for many this came at a critical time as they approached retirement.
One of the victims, John Oldfield, may have to sell his home to make ends meet in retirement.
He said: "My wife and I are retired and together we lost over £7,000. This has hampered our living in retirement and probably means we will have to sell our home and downsize in order to make ends meet."
Meanwhile, another victim Ian Duffield fears for the future of his wife after the couple lost more than £100,000 through the fund.
He said: "We had £213,000 invested in WEIF. After the winding up payments of £105,331 we have a loss £107,722 plus an ongoing loss of return from that lost capital.
"My wife is younger than me and women generally live longer than men so it is likely that I will die first. We now have the worry that she will be left on her own, disabled and housebound, with significantly less money than we had planned for."
Woodford was given a CBE for services to the economy in June 2013.
Agathangelou said: “Regardless of the qualities that led to Neil Woodford’s inclusion in the 2013 honours list, many would argue that his behaviour leading up to the closure of his flagship investment fund in 2019, and since, would surely not attract similar approbation.”
He went on say Woodford's actions caused thousands of investors to lose money and urged others who agree with him to write to the chair of the government's forfeiture committee.
In March, investors trapped in the Woodford fund started receiving the first payments of a £230mn settlement scheme approved by the High Court in February.
Following this, in April the Financial Conduct Authority issued a warning against Woodford, in which it said he had a “defective and unreasonably narrow” understanding of his responsibilities for managing his fund.
Days later, Woodford launched his own website to make a comeback as an economic commentator.
In the first post on Woodford Views, he said: "There is much more to be revealed about the story, and I will shed some light on the events that led to the losses that investors suffered when the fund was wound up.
"However, regardless of who was responsible for what, the fact is investors were trapped in my fund and suffered permanent losses, and this will always weigh heavily on me."
Woodford was contacted for comment.
tara.o'connor@ft.com
