ANDREW PIERCE: Labour warned to steer clear of beheading Charles I jokes or incendiary comments about the Royal family
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer reacted with visible relief when there were no jeers or boos as the Party faithful sang the national anthem at the opening of their annual conference in Liverpool yesterday.
For this outbreak of decorum he may well have to thank the leadership of Labour For A Republic, the official party grouping that campaigns for the abolition of the monarchy.
Mindful of heightened sensitivities following the death of the Queen, it has warned supporters not to make any incendiary comments about the Royal Family.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer reacted with visible relief when there were no jeers or boos as the Party faithful sang the national anthem at the opening of their annual conference in Liverpool yesterday
‘Never refer, even jokingly, to Charles I’s beheading as a solution, or to how Russia dealt with the Tsars,’ it said in a document issued to members and intended to be used as a guide to conduct during local Labour Party meetings.
It adds: ‘Never make or encourage derogatory references to the Royal Family’s German ancestry. Use their full common names (Elizabeth Windsor etc) or their simple titles (The Queen, Prince Charles etc), not any German names or titles.’
However, not everyone took this softly-softly approach to heart at a fringe event hosted by the group at The Quaker Meeting House on Saturday night.
The speakers included Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, who in an acid reference to Her Majesty said: ‘I would like her to have been Elizabeth the Last.’
For this outbreak of decorum he may well have to thank the leadership of Labour For A Republic, the official party grouping that campaigns for the abolition of the monarchy
A delayed train meant that hard-Left Labour MP Zarah Sultana was unable to fulfil her speaking engagement at last Tuesday’s rally for cost-of-living campaign group Enough Is Enough.
‘Just another reminder that we need to bring rail into public ownership and make it fit for the future!’ tweeted the cheerleader for former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Sultana should be careful what she wishes for. The LNER train she was delayed on was taken into public ownership by the Department for Transport back in 2018. It has been beset by difficulties ever since.
Overheard in the Commons, one MP saying to another: ‘I suppose it’s appropriate Prince Andrew is taking the Queen’s Corgis. He’s been in the dog house for years.’
Suella’s book of common chants
Home Secretary Suella Braverman is set to become the first Buddhist to have their name published in the Church of England’s Book Of Common Prayer.
When the crown changes hands, the new monarch commands the Home Secretary to sign a royal warrant relating to annual commemorations of the accession. This is printed in new editions of the prayer book. Previous warrants, stretching back centuries, have all been signed by Christian ministers.
Labour may preach diversity but it’s the Tories, with their third woman PM, and the Chancellor, Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary — all from ethnic minority backgrounds — who deliver it.
Labour was quick to capitalise on the admission by Liz Truss that a post-Brexit trade deal with the U.S. is still a long way off, with former shadow minister Marsha de Cordova (pictured) concluding: ‘The Prime Minister has already failed at her job,’ and Rotherham MP Sarah Champion arguing: ‘This failure lies squarely with Truss.’
Yet, last year, de Cordova said a trade deal with Washington would be a ‘disaster for working people’.
Champion — citing concerns over cheap U.S. food imports — simply said: ‘No thanks.’
Former shadow minister Marsha de Cordova (pictured) concluded: ‘The Prime Minister has already failed at her job’
There was moist grief in the Commons from the Scot Nat MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, Gavin Newlands, as he announced the death of his ‘diligent’ Labour predecessor Jim Sheridan.
Newlands was not always so kind, however — he once tried to get Sheridan sacked from a lowly local council seat.
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