A NATIONAL campaign has been launched to change the honours system to recognise the heroism of deceased British heroes like Frank Foley.

The Holocaust Educational Trust has launched a petition to the Prime Minister on the Number Ten web-site to change the rules so that awards can be given posthumously to heroes like Major Foley.

And my colleague Lynda Waltho, the MP for Stourbridge where Foley lived out his retirement, has tabled a House of Commons motion calling on the government to alter the system.

I've been fascinated by Foley's story ever since I first heard of him.

He was an MI6 agent working undercover as the passport control officer in Berlin in the 1930s, where he witnessed the rise of the Nazis at first hand. He saw the persecution suffered by the Jews and did everything he could to help, providing papers to let them escape, forging passports, sheltering people in his own home and even visiting concentration camps to get people out. There is no doubt that he took massive personal risks, but his courage and compassion saved tens of thousands of lives.

Although recognised as "Righteous Amongst the Nations" by Israel, he did not receive a formal recognition or honour for his actions from his own country during his lifetime. This year is the fiftieth anniversary of his death and surely the time is now right that his country should recognise what he did.

When he retired Frank moved to Stourbridge, where he lived in anonymity until his death in 1958. If you drive down Eveson Road, you'll see that he lived in the most typical British house in the most typical British street and what he shows us is that seemingly ordinary people can find within themselves the courage to do extraordinary things, instead of just walking away.

He refused to stand by when people were being singled out because of their race and religion and did what he could to help. In doing so he stood up for the great British values of democracy, freedom, fairness, equality and tolerance. It is this which marks him out as such a great British hero.

I've always been interested in these issues but despite growing up in Dudley, I'd never heard of Frank Foley until I stumbled on the biography by Michael Smith that brought him and his heroism to public attention.

There's now the memorial at Mary Stevens Park, just around the corner from his house and the council run an annual award in his name. And this year - the fiftieth anniversary of his death - Lynda and I plan to launch an annual Frank Foley Memorial Lecture which Michael Smith has agreed to launch.

But in the meantime, I think it would be a great idea if as many local people as possible visited the Number Ten web-site and signed the petition to so that he and other British heroes of the past can finally get the recognition they deserve.

Please visit the petition and add your name at the web-site at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/UK-Rescuers/