Jeremy Corbyn is not attending today’s Privy Council meeting, which is being written up as a ‘snub’ in some quarters and dismissed as totally unimportant in others. The Labour leader’s spokesperson has issued this statement:
‘Although Jeremy was unavailable for today’s meeting, he has confirmed he will be joining the Privy Council.
‘As the Prime Minister and others did, it is far from unusual to miss the first meeting due to other commitments.’
Corbyn’s non-attendance is neither a snub nor totally unimportant. His spokesperson does make a good point that David Cameron didn’t cancel all other engagements in order to attend his Privy Council meeting and the Labour leader does intend to go. But the real question is whether he hopes to be able to avoid a formal swearing involving the Queen and instead be appointed without having to bow and swear an oath pledging to be a ‘true and faithful servant unto the Queen’s Majesty’, that he will not allow anything to be said against the Queen, her honour, Crown or Dignity Royal and that he will to his ‘uttermost bear faith and allegiance to the Queen’s Majesty’. It is possible to avoid this, though party leaders tend not to.
If Corbyn does end up avoiding the formal oath and using an Order in Council instead, then this will be interesting and worth reporting because it tells us something about him and how he will operate as Labour leader. Some may see it as him sticking to his principles, others may see it as a ‘snub’ to the Queen. Unless you’re a political opponent, though, it’s hardly evidence of him being ‘Britain-hating’.
But while it should hardly be a surprise that a republican is struggling with the idea of pledging to be a true and faithful servant to an institution he wants to abolish (though he has also tried to neutralise that by saying he accepts that most British people do love the monarchy), what is more remarkable is that he doesn’t seem to have worked out how he will manage the whole experience. Worth remarking on, but not surprising, given Corbyn has lived his life as a backbencher in what seemed to be the certain and happy expectation of never having to consider questions about his membership of the Privy Council.
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