Category: Speeches

Ben Wallace – 2022 Speech to Conservative Party Conference

The speech made by Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defence, in Birmingham on 2 October 2022.

Good evening Conference,

I am delighted to be here today in Birmingham. It’s been great to come back here since 2018. It’s been even nicer to have a musical accompaniment from the people outside who think we should gather today with a theme tune. The amazing thing about Birmingham is it’s one of Britain’s great cities and an outstanding example of the rich fabric that makes up our country. You know too often, politicians and journalists think the world stops and starts in London.

Andy Street and his excellent team here in Birmingham demonstrate quite the opposite. And as a Lancashire MP, I am truly grateful for the work started by Boris Johnson to level up this country. I know that our new Prime Minister is equally dedicated to continue that mission.

But as we gather today for the start of our conference, I want to start by first of all paying tribute to the late Queen. The motto of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is “Serve to Lead”.

In it, lies the key to understanding that to be a leader, you must put your soldiers’ needs before yourself. You must be selfless. Our late Queen was the very embodiment of that motto.

She put her subjects before herself. She put her duty to them before her own needs. The men and women of the armed forces knew that and were inspired by that.

To know that they had a Commander-in-Chief who was truly focused on their wellbeing and their interests, while expecting the highest of standards from them, was genuinely inspirational to all those who served.

We will all miss her greatly. In these anxious and globally unstable times, fanned by the polarising flames of social media, we all need some constant reassurance in our lives. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second was that constant.

Another constant, is the men and women of our Armed Forces. They have been with us through all our troubles. Most recently through Covid, through the evacuation from Afghanistan, through the invasion of Ukraine and again, just a few weeks ago, on parade to say goodbye to the Commander-in-Chief.

They always display the finest qualities and dedication to duty. Day in, day out, they defend us and our allies.

When I took the reins at the Ministry of Defence in 2019, I undertook to reform defence to ensure that our forces had what they needed, to do the tasks given to them by Government.

But I also drew on my own experiences, to once and for all put a stop to the “hollowing out” of our forces. For decades, Prime Ministers had wanted more, but Chancellors had wanted less.

The result of this, for as long as I can remember, was an Armed Forces that on the surface looked fine, but inside struggled with ammunition stocks, kit maintenance, ship availability, and low living standards.

In short, I was determined that whatever funding we got, we spent it making sure that it could deliver a ready, deployable force – well equipped, well armed and well trained.

And with any new funding, the priority would not be shiny new toys, but fixing what we had first. Only then could we embark on funding to invest for the new and modernisation.

So I put the challenge of being a threat-lead and modern Armed Forces at the heart of the 2020 Defence Command Paper.

Boris Johnson shared that view and handed us the biggest settlement since the Cold War. He recognised that we needed to invest in our Armed Forces and not to manage decline.

And Liz Truss, our new Prime Minister, has gone even further and done what will be needed to finish the job. When she was Foreign Secretary, she knew what the threats were out there and she knew the influence that Britain’s Armed Forces delivered around the world.

But she also knew that Defence can’t live on historical reputation alone. It needed real investment and for the first time a government that would move it up their priority list.

The Prime Minister’s pledge to invest 3% of GDP by 2030 is what we needed to keep this country and our allies safe.

Liz Truss knows this is not a “discretionary” choice, but a necessity. The instability and insecurity we see around the world will not go away by itself.

On Friday, President Putin illegally annexed part of Ukraine. Another European state. To accompany this occasion, he delivered another tirade at the world.

He did this at the very moment his own poorly equipped troops, appallingly led were being routed from the East of Ukraine.

As countries around the world condemned his actions, he attended a concert, cheered on by bussed-in crowds. Ridiculous as his homophobic, anti-West rants were, what he didn’t say was just as interesting.

He never addressed the tens of thousands of Russian widows and mothers, whose young men were sent to their deaths by incompetent generals and because of his illegal invasion.

Or the more than fifty thousand injured personnel he is frightened to visit. He didn’t address the charges of war crimes his forces have been involved in.

Because for President Putin, there is no going back. His intentions are clear. He will not stop in Ukraine. He will push west. His own essays say as much.

He genuinely believes in some Tsarist, imperialist destiny to unite the supposedly ancient people of Rus. By all means at his disposal, he seeks to pursue “ethnic nationalism” in a way we haven’t seen since the 1940s.

Be under no illusion – he is dangerous. Ukraine says they are fighting not just for themselves, but also for us. And they are right. It is why we must stand strong beside them. It is why we must not let brutality and disregard for human rights triumph over the values of all we hold dear.

And our response matters, because the world is watching. The question some will be asking is “does the international community have the determination, the unity and the resilience to stand up for each other and for the rule of law?”.

Well, to date, the answer is a clear and resounding “Yes”. In February this year, the day after Russia’s invasion, I held the first international donor conference on Ukraine to coordinate military aid.

We had 25 countries in attendance from across Europe. That rapidly grew to 35. And the aid to Ukraine is not shrinking, it is growing.

Last week, I visited Ukraine again to see what more we can do. Despite the attacks, they are strong and they are winning.

I am proud to say that British weapons, like the NLAWs, are helping to make a real difference. But as well as British hardware, we are helping with our training as well.

We committed to training ten thousand Ukrainian troops this year and we are supported by Danes, Finns, Swedes, Norwegians, Dutch, Canadians, Estonians, Lithuanians and New Zealanders all here delivering for this challenge.

I am pleased to say that we are committed to training, next year, a further twenty or thirty thousand troops, as required.

President Putin must see the folly of his invasion. His army is broken, his international reputation is shattered, and Russia’s standing in the world is lesser than it was. His errors are strategic.

Instead of discouraging NATO, he has pushed Sweden and Finland to join it. No one made them, but seeing Russia’s behaviour changed the long-standing positions of two countries who for decades were wedded to neutrality.

I am delighted they are now joining NATO. But how unnecessary his invasion has been and at a cost of huge suffering to all in Ukraine and wider.

But Putin’s reactions are wider than just Ukraine. His reach goes further. This week, we saw the “mysterious” damage inflicted to the Nordstream pipelines.

And it should remind us all how fragile our economy and infrastructure is to such hybrid attacks. Our intent is to protect them. Our internet and energy are highly reliant on pipelines and cables. Russia makes no secret of its ability to target such infrastructure.

So for that reason I can announce that we have recently committed to two specialist ships with the capability to keep our cables and pipelines safe.

The first Multi Role Survey Ship for Seabed Warfare will be purchased by the end of this year, fitted out here in the UK, and in operation before the end of next year. The second ship will be built in the UK and we will plan to make sure it covers all our vulnerabilities.

We have no time to lose. The Prime Minister is determined to invest in defence, stand up to Russia, stand by Ukraine, and prepare us to face the threats for tomorrow. The reality is that we can’t afford NOT to invest 3 per cent of GDP in defence and our Prime Minister understands that.

To not do so would imperil our security and risk having Armed Forces out of step with their peers – and more worryingly out of step with our enemies.

Conference, I know times are tough and up and down Britain, people are struggling with the effects of global inflation and rising interest rates. Sadly, we are not alone in this. Across Europe and the G7, the cost of living is going up and up and service personnel are no different.

That is why this year I have rolled out free “wrap-around childcare” for all in the forces. It is why I have frozen the daily food charge for our personnel and capped rent increases at 1 per cent for service families. If we don’t look after the people in our Armed Forces, the most important equipment of all, then what is the point of having our Armed Forces?

As well as helping with the cost of living, the Ministry of Defence is one of the key drivers of economic growth across the UK.

We support 219,000 private sector jobs with more than £20bn of investment in equipment and support every year.

Here in the Midlands, in Telford, we are making the new Challenger 3 turrets and Boxer armoured vehicles. In all, Defence spending contributes over 400,000 jobs in this country, right across the Union.

We are building ships in Scotland, manufacturing armoured vehicles in Wales, and assembling the, now world-famous, NLAW anti-tank missiles in Northern Ireland – bringing new jobs, investment and opportunities to every part of the United Kingdom.

There is more to do.

Conference, for those who think that the solution is to turn to Labour however, I would say that now is not the time to deploy Captain Mainwaring and his platoon to help with our Nation’s defence.

You can see the Labour Party now – Captain Keir Mainwaring, marching around his bunker in Islington, with Sergeant “Blair” Wilson whispering in his ear, and Private “Corbyn” Godfrey telling us how “DOOMED” we all are.

But you know, Mr Starmer, investing in Defence and supporting our troops requires a lot more than waving a Union Jack. You have to actually fund them.

You have to actually recognise that as the threat changes, so must the investment. In the world we live in today, there is no place for Labour’s “Home Guard” amateurs.

So, Mr Starmer, when will you match the Prime Minister’s pledge of 3% of GDP by 2030? Will you put your money where your mouth is?

And before I end, I want to pay tribute to my team at Defence. I have been incredibly lucky as Secretary of State to have had such excellent Ministers.

I want to thank Jeremy Quinn, Leo Docherty and Suzanne Webb for the work they have done.

And I am sorry to see Johnny Mercer leave the Government.

But I also want to welcome Sarah Atherton and Alec Shelbrooke to their posts. They will do an outstanding job.

Our PPSs Ian Levy and Mark Eastwood are also key and are valued contributors to the team. For that is what it is… a team in Defence.

So, Conference, whatever the world may throw at us in the next few years, and no one says it is going to be easy, you can be sure that this team, alongside the UK’s Armed Forces, will be working day and night, across the globe, to defend us and keep our allies safe.

Thank you very much.

03/10/2022
Simon Clarke – 2022 Comments in Support of 45p Tax Rate

The comments made by Simon Clarke, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, on Twitter on 2 October 2022.

Great answer by Liz Truss to Laura [BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg] on the 45p rate. We should do what’s right to grow the economy and have the simplest, most competitive tax code we can. Rather [than] obsess over the “optics”, let’s focus on policies which strengthen the country.

03/10/2022
Kwasi Kwarteng – 2022 Statement Scrapping Tax Cut for High Earners

The statement made by Kwasi Kwarteng, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 3 October 2022.

From supporting British business to lowering the tax burden for the lowest paid, our Growth Plan sets out a new approach to build a more prosperous economy.

However, it is clear that the abolition of the 45p tax rate has become a distraction from our overriding mission to tackle the challenges facing our country.

As a result, I’m announcing we are not proceeding with the abolition of the 45p tax rate. We get it, and we have listened.

This will allow us to focus on delivering the major parts of our growth package.

First, our Energy Price Guarantee, which will support households and businesses with their energy bills.

Second, cutting taxes to put money back in the pockets of 30 million hard-working people and grow our economy.

Third, driving supply side reforms – including accelerating major infrastructure projects – to get Britain moving.

03/10/2022
Liz Truss – 2022 Statement Scrapping Tax Cut for High Earners

The statement made by Liz Truss, the Prime Minister, on 3 October 2022.

We get it and we have listened.

The abolition of the 45pc rate had become a distraction from our mission to get Britain moving.

Our focus now is on building a high growth economy that funds world-class public services, boosts wages, and creates opportunities across the country.

03/10/2022
Anneliese Dodds – 2022 Letter to Jake Berry Over Conservative Tax Cuts

The letter sent by Anneliese Dodds, the Chair of the Labour Party, to Jake Berry, the Chair of the Conservative Party, on 2 October 2022.

03/10/2022
Richard Foord – 2022 Comments on Government Budget U-Turn

The comments made by Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Honiton, on Twitter on 3 October 2022.

Let’s be clear, the only reason Kwarteng has shelved plans to cut taxes for the wealthiest is because of the political backlash. He still thinks it is the right idea and went ahead with it despite the cost of living crisis. The Chancellor is woefully out of touch and must go.

03/10/2022
Jake Berry – 2022 Interview on Kwasi Kwarteng Meeting with Hedge Fund Managers

The interview between Jake Berry, the Chair of the Conservative Party, and Sophy Ridge on the Sky News Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme on 2 October 2022.

SOPHY RIDGE

[asked if Berry had celebrated with the Chancellor and hedge fund managers at a campaign reception]

JAKE BERRY

We often have receptions for donors and the Conservative Party, and in fact, these people should be lauded because we don’t have public funding for political parties. These are people who go out and make money and donate to political parties in the same way as they do for the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. In terms of that get together, it wasn’t a get together of hedge fund managers, it’s actually Britain’s leading entrepreneurs. Yes, I was there, but it’s the sort of normal drumbeat of treasurer’s events as we call them in the Conservative Party that we have all the time.

SOPHY RIDGE

[asked if hedge fund managers were present]

JAKE BERRY

I mean, I’m sure there were or there was, I think, one that I know of, but in terms of the rest of the people there, lots of them were people have grown and started businesses. In fact, the conversations I had, because it was my job before I did this, was people who work in the property industry. What they will say is they back this government’s drive to create growth in the economy because they understand that you cannot have a rising tide of prosperity that flows under every door in this country without first creating growth in the economy.

SOPHY RIDGE

[asked if Jake Berry acknowledged the Sunday Times story that as the markets collapsed he was at the Chelsea home of a Tory donor with hedge fund managers and financiers]

JAKE BERRY

I’m not sure that any of them did make money from the crash in the pound, but of course, you will know well that the pound had its best week against the dollar since 2020. People can read The Times if they want to.

SOPHY RIDGE

[asked for clarity on whether he was at the home of someone who had taken short positions on the pound in the past]

JAKE BERRY

Let’s be absolutely clear this is part of the normal drumbeat of the treasurer debates within the Conservative Party. I was there, there was no confidential information that was discussed, it was a sort of a get together with some of Britain’s leading entrepreneurs, who by the way, we should thank for creating growth in our economy and being on this drive to create wealth for every ordinary working family in this country.

SOPHY RIDGE

[asked about the Chancellor’s mood as he drank champagne]

JAKE BERRY

Well I’m not even sure the chancellor was drinking champagne, I think he was drinking a soft drink. But he was absolutely clear that he has set out a path for this country to create growth and the reason we want to create growth is to ensure that every family who is really worried about things like their mortgage rate would have been terrified if the government hadn’t taken action on energy bills. People seem to forget that just a few weeks ago, we were talking about 4 million businesses going bust, we were talking about tens of millions of people losing their job, we were talking about the average household having an energy bill of 6,000 pounds.

SOPHY RIDGE

[asked about the Bank of England having to step in with a £65 billion bailout]

JAKE BERRY

With the action that the Government has taken, we have cut on average £1,000 from people’s energy bills and we have stopped those millions of budgets going bust. I accept there is concern about the mortgage market.

02/10/2022
Tom McNally – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II (Lord McNally)

The tribute made by Tom McNally, Baron McNally, in the House of Lords on 10 September 2022.

My Lords, I rise with no sense of provocation in following the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of York, but, when our new King spoke to the country last night, he mentioned a number of new responsibilities for the Prince of Wales and for his wife. He too had taken on a new responsibility from his mother—the Duke of Lancaster. I wear the tie today of the Association of Lancastrians in London because Her Majesty the Queen, throughout her long life, was our patron. Many noble Lords will have been at dinners where the toast was to the Queen, and heard someone in the audience say, “the Duke of Lancaster”. That responsibility as Duke of Lancaster is where I begin my remarks.

In the 1960s and 1970s, I had the honour and pleasure of working for two Prime Ministers, Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan. Both affirmed what has been said by all the living former Prime Ministers: what a comfort, guidance and help it was to them in doing their job to have the opportunity of an audience with the Queen, with no leaks, briefings or anything else—just the benefit of her wisdom.

The nearest I got to finding out anything about it was when I accompanied Jim Callaghan to visit President Mobutu in what was then Zaire. In advance of our visit, Jim told me that, when Mobutu had come on a state visit to London, he was put up at Buckingham Palace. It was only after he had arrived, and his suite was ensconced there, that they found he had brought a dog with him, which had come through without quarantine for rabies. Jim said that, quite often when meeting the Queen, she would refer to “That dreadful man who nearly gave the corgis rabies”. I wondered how this would be handled when we met President Mobutu. Sure enough, when Jim and the President met, he said, “And how is Her Majesty?” “Very well, Mr President”, said Jim, “She speaks of you often”.

The other memory, which again ties in with the Queen’s interests, is going to a Privy Council meeting at Windsor, after which she kindly invited the three privy counsellors present for lunch. Before lunch she invited us into her study. Two things stuck in my memory. One was that on her desk was a photograph of her sister, Princess Margaret. The other, as has been referred to, was the BAFTA that she won for her performance at the opening of the Olympics. That epitomises two of her strong personal virtues: her commitment to family, and a sense of humour that did not take all of majesty entirely seriously.

I have one final reflection. I was alone in my office on Thursday evening, with the television on, when Huw Edwards suddenly interrupted what he was saying and said, “It’s just been announced that the Queen is dead.” I was shocked at how sad I was. I have worked around Whitehall and Westminster for over 50 years, and you become fairly hard-boiled to the passing of various personalities around this village. However, I really felt a sadness—I thought, “You’re getting soft, McNally”—but I found over the next 24 or 48 hours that that emotion, that initial feeling that she is gone and feeling sad about it was shared by millions of people in this country and around the world. In a way, that is the biggest tribute to a life of service that any words can convey. It was that we will miss her and that service, that dedication and that example but, in so doing, we know that she has worked so hard to pass that baton on to our new King, so that we can with confidence say, “God save the King.”

02/10/2022
Stephen Cottrell – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II (Archbishop of York)

The tribute made by Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, in the House of Lords on 10 September 2022.

My Lords, like most Bishops from these Benches, I have stories to tell; stories of doing jigsaws in Sandringham on Sunday evenings and of barbeques in the woods at Sandringham in the middle of January—I even have a slightly scurrilous story about healing the Queen’s car. Perhaps I will tell it.

I had preached in Sandringham parish church. We were standing outside and the Bentley was there to get the Queen. It did not start. It made that throaty noise cars make in the middle of winter when they will not start, and everybody stood there doing nothing. I was expecting a policeman to intervene, but nothing happened. Enjoying the theatre of the moment, I stepped forward and made a large sign of the cross over the Queen’s car, to the enjoyment of the crowd—there were hundreds of people there, as it was the Queen. I saw the Queen out of the corner of my eye looking rather stony-faced, and thought I had perhaps overstepped the mark. The driver tried the car again and, praise the Lord, it started. The Queen got in and went back to Sandringham, and I followed in another car. When I arrived, as I came into lunch, the Queen said with a beaming smile, “It’s the Bishop—he healed my car”. Two years later, when I greeted her at the west front of Chelmsford Cathedral, just as a very grand service was about to start and we were all dressed up to the nines, she took me to one side and said, “Bishop, nice to see you again; I think the car’s all right today, but if I have any problems I’ll know where to come.”

When I became the 98th Archbishop of York, during Covid, I paid homage to the Queen by Zoom conference. I was in the Cabinet Office; everyone had forgotten to bring a Bible, including me, but there was one there—which is kind of reassuring. Just as the ceremony was about to begin, the fire alarm went off. The Queen was at Windsor Castle, but we all trooped out of the Cabinet Office, on to the road, and were out there for about 20 minutes until they could check that it was a false alarm and we could go back in. When I went back into the room, there was the screen, with Her late Majesty waiting for things to begin again. I do not know why I find myself returning to that image of her, faithful watching and waiting through those very difficult times. That was a very small part of a life of astonishing service.

The other thing I have noticed in the last couple of days is that we are all telling our stories. Yesterday, I found myself sharing stories with somebody in the street. I at least had had the honour of meeting Her late Majesty; this person had never met her, but we were sharing stories. I said, “Isn’t it strange how we need to tell our stories? It’s not as if she was a member of our family.” Except she was. That is the point. She served the household of a nation. For her, it was not a rule but an act of service, to this people and to all of us.

I remind us, again and again, that that came from somewhere: it came from her profound faith in the one who said,

“I am among you as one who serves.”

The hallmark of leadership is service, watchfulness and waiting. It was her lived-in faith in Jesus Christ, day in and day out, which sustained, motivated and equipped her for that lifetime of service. How inspiring it was last night and this morning to see the baton pass to our new King, King Charles, in the same spirit of godly service to the people of a nation.

Her Majesty the Queen died on 8 September, the day on which the blessed Virgin Mary is remembered across the world and the Church. Another Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary, said of her when she knew she would be the mother of the Lord:

“Blessed is she who believed that the promises made to her would be fulfilled”.

Shot through all our tributes in this House and another place, and across our nation, is that which we have seen, especially as it was only on Tuesday—I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, for reminding us—that the Queen received a new Prime Minister. Can it really be possible? She served to the end—a life fulfilled.

I will finish with a handful of her words. This is what the Queen wrote in a book to mark her 90th birthday, reflecting on her faith in Jesus Christ in her life:

“I have indeed seen His faithfulness.”

I am not supposed to call noble Lords “brothers and sisters”, but dear friends, we have seen her faithfulness too, and we see it now in our new King. May Her late Majesty the Queen rest in peace and rise in glory. God save the King.

02/10/2022
Deborah Bull – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II (Baroness Bull)

The tribute made by Deborah Bull, Baroness Bull, in the House of Lords on 10 September 2022.

My Lords, it is a privilege to speak today and to add to the tributes we have heard so far the gratitude and respect of the many arts and cultural organisations across the country that benefited from the support and patronage of Her late Majesty the Queen over the 70 years of her reign. As the noble Earl just reminded us, it is easier to picture the Queen and Prince Philip at the races than at the theatre. It is hard to deny that they would likely have felt much more at home in a hippodrome intended for horses than one designed for performance. To my great surprise, I once found myself discussing choreography with the Duke of Edinburgh, but it was in the context of his having agreed to create a dressage display for a charity event. In characteristically colourful language, he shared his frustration at the complexities of combining movement with music, and I secretly enjoyed his grudging realisation that there might be more to this whole dancing business than he had previously imagined.

And yet, her Majesty’s interest in the arts was real and it stretched back across her life. An Arts Council report from 1946 includes a photograph of the Queen attending a concert in Kings Lynn with her mother and paternal grandmother, suggesting, perhaps, that it was they who helped instil her interest in the arts. As Sovereign, she opened and reopened countless galleries, museums and theatres, cutting ribbons and unveiling plaques. She attended no fewer than 35 Royal Variety Performances. The first, in 1953, included the Tiller Girls and Vera Lynn at the Palladium; the last, in 2012, was at the Royal Albert Hall. She was a patron, over many decades, of arts organisations around the country, including orchestras, brass bands and choirs as well as major institutions such as the National, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House, where I had the great privilege to meet her.

Many of those visits were, of course, formal occasions—occasions on which she was obliged to perform her own role and to dress in costumes and jewellery that rivalled those we wore on the stage. She would come backstage to meet the performers after curtain down and, before the days of mobile phones, we would fervently hope that the official photographers would catch the moment of regal handshake and preserve it for posterity. Perhaps she enjoyed those ceremonial visits—she was far too discreet to let on if not—but they were also part of the life of duty about which we have heard so much over recent days. Yet we also know that, away from the formal schedules, she would occasionally attend performances for sheer pleasure, making unofficial visits to “Billy Elliot” to celebrate her 80th birthday in 2006, and to “War Horse” in 2009. I recall one such private visit to the Royal Ballet, when Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret, the company’s long-standing president, decided she liked one ballet so much that she would come back to see it again, and this time, she would bring her sister too.

So, while her love of the arts may have been lower profile than her passion for horses, her support was steadfast and enduring, and the fact that it was passed on through the generations of her family is another of her many legacies. His Majesty the King is an extraordinary supporter of the arts, across music, dance, visual arts and theatre, and has been patron of some 400 organisations. He is particularly committed to opening up opportunities for young people, encouraging them to fulfil their individual creative potential through participating in art.

Over history, monarchs have always inspired artistic creations, and our late Queen was no exception. Her Coronation included a new composition from William Walton, “Orb and Sceptre”, played alongside a march he had composed for her father’s Coronation. It inspired Benjamin Britten’s opera, “Gloriana”, and a new ballet from Sir Frederick Ashton, “Homage to the Queen”, a ballet I had the opportunity to dance some 40 years later. Surely, no sovereign before her inspired such a diverse range of fictional representations in theatre, on stage, on screen and in literature. Perhaps this is as good a measure as any of the changing times over which she reigned. When she ascended the Throne, the Lord Chamberlain still had the power to refuse a licence to a play that might offend, a power that would remain in place until 1968. While one sometimes has occasion to wonder what the 1950s censor might have made of all this, the creative and sometimes whimsical imaginations of writers from Sue Townsend to Peter Morgan and Alan Bennett have given us a different kind of legacy for an exceptional life exceptionally lived. And as other noble Lords have recalled, Her Majesty had her own sense of performance, deployed to memorable effect at the London 2012 Olympics and, more recently, in that unforgettable and heart-warming two-hander with a virtual bear.

Over the coming days, some theatres and arts venues may close their doors, observe moments of silence or dim their lights. They will do so as a mark of gratitude and respect not just for someone whose patronage was so valued, but whose dedication to duty was the living embodiment of that well-known theatrical adage, “the show must go on”. To some, that may sound too trite for such a solemn occasion, but it is a phrase that came to my mind this week as we witnessed Her Majesty summon the strength, even in the fading moments of her life, to carry out her last constitutional duty: a defining moment of both continuity and change that was echoed today as the Council of Accession met and the proclamation of the new King rang out. The curtain falls; the curtain rises. Thank you, Ma’am, and to King Charles III, we wish every success.

02/10/2022