As the Queen celebrates becoming Britain’s longest-serving monarch today, David Cameron led tributes for Her Majesty this morning in the Commons ahead of PMQs.
While the Prime Minister praised her ‘unerring grace, dignity and decency’, Sir Gerald Howarth tried a different tack; showing his appreciation for her with an anecdote about his wife not wishing to attend a local donkey derby:
‘When I consult Lady Howarth and ask whether we should go to the donkey derby, and she says, “But we went there last year,” I say, “And Her Majesty does all sorts of things every single year.” Her Majesty has done a fantastic service to this nation.’
The leaders of the DUP and Lib Dems both managed to deliver kind words, as did Labour, thanks to Harriet Harman taking to the stand, rather than republican Jeremy Corbyn.
However, it was the SNP’s Angus Robertson who was presented with the toughest challenge, given that his party has never been known for its love of the monarchy. Indeed SNP MP Paul Monaghan recently made the news after a look through his Twitter history revealed that he had called the Royal family an ‘obscenity’ and described the Queen as a benefits ‘claimant’.
Robertson did his best to keep Scottish Nationalists on side by pointing out in his tribute that they could have a monarch and still win independence:
‘We have seen many remarkable landmarks over Her Majesty’s long reign, during which there has been a transition from empire, with the independence of scores of nations, many of which have retained Her Majesty as Head of State, or which have a close connection through the Commonwealth.’
While only 16 of the SNP 56 made it in to hear Robertson’s speech, it is the party’s leader Nicola Sturgeon who is more likely to invoke the wrath of some of her colleagues today. After accompanying the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on the new Scottish Borders railway, she took part in a rendition of God Save the Queen. Whatever will Monaghan say?
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