Knowing something of Bob's politics, I think that if he had been offered any sort of government award - especially one that had EMPIRE as part of it; he would have told them where to stuff it.

It reminds me of the day when Hamish Henderson was nominated for an award in the days of the Thatcher government. In protest of the Thatcher government's nuclear weapons policy, he publicly turned down an OBE.
This led to one of my favourite front page banner headlines. This is what The Scotsman made of it -

HAMISH HENDERSON NO B E