Tag: Speeches

Paul Maynard – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Paul Maynard, the Conservative MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

It is my sorrowful task to express the grief and sadness of the people of Blackpool North and Cleveleys at the loss of Her late Majesty. We also send our best wishes to our new King Charles III. As part of the red rose county, we have lost not just our monarch but our Duke of Lancaster.

I am one of those who never had the chance to meet Her Majesty, like the vast majority of my constituents, but I know the affection in which we all held her. Every flag displayed on every house, every strip of bunting hung up in every street, every cupcake consumed at every event in the summer for the platinum jubilee demonstrated the affection in which she was held across the Fylde coast. Now Blackpool has even dimmed its famous illuminations out of respect for her passing.

In Blackpool, we remember fondly the last time the Queen came to our town, in 2009, to see the royal variety performance. I have often wondered what a woman in her early 80s made of the pop sensations of 2009, as she sat there probably wishing that it would all be over soon and she could go to bed. One lesson I took from that is that, for pop stars and indeed politicians, fame is transitory, but the renown of a monarch such as her will echo down the ages.

For seven decades, the Queen has been inextricably intertwined with our nationhood, our sense of identity and who we are as a nation. She has shared our highs and our lows, our triumphs and our disasters, and we have shared hers—the high times, the good times, the jubilees and the celebrations, but also the lows. Who will ever forget the sight of her sitting alone in St George’s Chapel in Windsor at the funeral of her late husband?

My right hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Damian Green) used the word “uncertainty” as we began our tributes today, and I feel that sense of uncertainty myself—I feel somewhat bereft. We face difficult, uncertain times, but we look to the Queen’s example of duty, sacrifice, regard for others and steadfastness. Whatever the coming years and months may hold, we will hold true to her memory and the example she set. May she rest in peace. God save the King.

September 11, 2022
Dave Doogan – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Dave Doogan, the SNP MP for Angus, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

I rise to speak to the memory of Her late Majesty the Queen on behalf of my many Angus constituents who held her close in their affections. The Queen was a very popular figure across much of Scotland and especially in Angus. That fondness was a consequence of her personal characteristics, such as her demeanour, warmth and character, much more than any sort of institutional devotion.

The Queen’s length of service over seven decades afforded people a sense of continuity and stability in a world that changed immeasurably over her reign. Her great appreciation for Scotland and Angus is a source of great pride for many Scots. Her mother was a child of Angus, being born in Glamis, and Her Majesty visited Angus multiple times. She was in Kirriemuir in 1969 and returned in 2004, when she also visited Arbroath and Forfar at the same time. It is well understood that she was happiest at Balmoral in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, and her very public fondness for her highland home was naturally also a source of pride in Scotland. The astonishing landscape in which Balmoral is set is adjacent to our iconic Angus glens, so I know keenly why the Queen valued her time in this part of Scotland so much. I believe it must have been a great comfort to her to be there in her final hours with her family around her.

Unlike many hon. Members, I did not get to meet the late Queen, but as a four-year-old in Perth, I can still remember the excitement in the streets as we queued and waited for the still quite young Queen to pass as part of her silver jubilee celebrations in 1977. Again in Perth in 2012, as a local councillor, I witnessed her incredible professionalism, charm and patience as she presented the keys to the city and restored Perth to city status as part of her diamond jubilee celebrations.

I wish to extend my condolences to the millions of people grieving at the death of Her late Majesty, but death, especially the death of a mother, bears hardest on the family, no matter who she is, so I convey my sympathies to all her family. The Queen was also a defender of her faith. She took that role very seriously and, as such, demonstrated her outstanding credentials as a committed Christian. When I pray for the repose of her soul, I have great confidence that she will now be in the arms of God. May she rest in peace.

September 11, 2022
Matt Warman – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Matt Warman, the Conservative MP for Boston and Skegness, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

In 2012, prior to the diamond jubilee, the Queen hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace for national newspaper editors, the usual great and the good, and, to my surprise, technology editors as well. That induced the unique, gut-wrenching dual anxiety of having to meet Her Majesty, and having to do so with my boss. Thankfully, the Duke of Edinburgh said that technologists, such as myself, were there because people like us knew “what was going on”. That put me at ease, at least for the seconds before I realised he had just said explicitly something that I had only ever optimistically inferred from working with my bosses.

Perhaps surprisingly, the digital jubilee reception was not a novel concept. The Queen understood that she had to be seen to be believed. We knew her first in the ’40s and ’50s via black and white photos, the wireless and that scratchily televised coronation, which was so many people’s first experience of television. By the 2020s, it was ultra-high definition video, and in the lockdown of 2020 it was Zoom. She moved with the times, and the times moved with her. She was present in our lives in a way that moved even places like Boston and Skegness, which she never visited, to hold street parties in her honour, and that now moves many there to tears.

I met His Majesty King Charles at a reception for Roberts Radio, which is a long-standing warrant holder.

He, too, knows that technology can make his family’s warmth and service palpable around the world. He used the opportunity to do an impression from “The Goon Show”, which only time sadly precludes me from recreating in the House. With TV cameras in the Accession Council, we have already seen more of what it is to be a monarch than we could ever have done previously, and long may that continue. It is familiarity and closeness that fosters hope and togetherness with our sovereign.

I said that we first saw Her Majesty in black and white, and later on Zoom. I should, of course, have said that we are unlikely to see such a lengthy reign again, with its diligence, humility and uplifting love. Thanks to the times in which she lived, we are blessed to have felt uniquely close to so much of it. That makes her absence feel so personal and acute. Grief is the price we pay for love. God save the King.

September 11, 2022
Simon Lightwood – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Simon Lightwood, the Labour MP for Wakefield, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

It has been an honour and a privilege to listen to the tributes and anecdotes from Members across the House. I pay tribute, both personally and on behalf of the people of Wakefield, to the service of our remarkable Queen. Her devotion and sacrifice to this nation over her 96 years is an inspiration and guiding light to us all, however long we have been in public life.

It is an immense sorrow, but one that gives me deep personal pride, that I was one of the last Members of Parliament to take an oath of allegiance to Her late Majesty the Queen when I took my seat in June. The Queen visited Wakefield several times. I believe the first time was as Princess Elizabeth in 1945, when she visited Pinderfields Hospital. She returned as Queen on her silver jubilee tour in 1977, and again in 1992 to officially open Wakefield Hospice.

Her efforts to extend the hand of the monarchy to all her subjects across the United Kingdom led to the decision to take the traditional Maundy service out of London, choosing a different part of the country each year. So it was that in 2005, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Wakefield Cathedral to distribute the Maundy money, with people from all over the district lining the streets, desperate to catch a glimpse of her. I was fortunate to be there myself and I remember her shining through the crowds, in her inimitable style, wearing brilliant blue. But it was her unforgettable smile and the characteristic twinkle in her eyes that we will remember most.

She was loved by so many in Wakefield and in our nation for her warmth, her dedication and her unshakeable sense of duty. Over her 70 years on the throne, she reigned over huge social, cultural and political change across the United Kingdom, and indeed the world, but through all that she was a constant steadying presence. She met every moment, crisis and problem with her reassuring presence and calming words, always reflecting the mood of the nation. Her Majesty was, and will always be, our nation’s north star. The example that she set for us all will continue to shine bright in our memories, to guide us and to inspire us towards a better tomorrow.

On behalf of the people of Wakefield, Horbury and Ossett, I thank Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her love and service to our nation, and our thoughts and prayers are with King Charles III and the royal family. God save the King.

September 11, 2022
Gareth Johnson – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Gareth Johnson, the Conservative MP for Dartford, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

I am particularly grateful to be able to contribute to this debate, particularly as I am the Whip on duty. As you know, Madam Deputy Speaker, the Whip comments on every Member’s contribution to a debate, so I look forward to writing about mine.

I am also pleased to contribute to this debate because I want to convey my Dartford constituents’ gratitude for the service given by Her Majesty. Dartford is heartbroken, as we all are. We all dreaded this day, almost believing that it would never happen, but here we are. It seems so odd to be without the Queen, as we all grew up with Her Majesty. My hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Nickie Aiken) spoke about the silver jubilee crown, and I was also given one when I was a young boy. It was absolutely huge, and I thought I was rich beyond my wildest dreams because I had this huge coin in my hand. I confess to being disappointed when I found out, some time later, that it was worth only 25p. Nevertheless, the crown was priceless because the Queen gave everything for us. Her whole life was committed to us and our welfare. She was the perfect monarch. She loved her people, and she was in turn loved by the people. Nobody in this Chamber has or will ever have her approval ratings—nobody.

Much will change—we will never again sing “God Save the Queen” in our lifetime, for example—but we are so incredibly fortunate to have a King with a huge sense of duty and who genuinely cares about his people and his country. He is just as much at home walking around a Welsh farm as a London council estate. While we are deeply saddened, we can be optimistic about the future thanks to the legacy that Her Majesty the Queen left to us. God save the King.

September 11, 2022
Helen Hayes – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Helen Hayes, the Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

I rise to pay tribute to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of my constituents in Dulwich and West Norwood. My sincere condolences go to His Majesty the King, the royal family and all who grieve her loss.

Her late Majesty made a commitment at the age of 21 that she would dedicate her whole life to the service of the British people, and the fulfilment of that promise over more than seven decades is truly extraordinary. Unlike other hon. and right hon. Members, I did not have the privilege of meeting the late Queen personally, but I know that she maintained, as she did with communities across the country, a very strong relationship with our part of south London, most notably with King’s College Hospital.

The late Queen visited King’s College Hospital three times during her reign, first as part of her coronation tour in 1953, just five years after the founding of the NHS. She visited again in 1968 to open the Ruskin wing, and once more in 2003 to open the Golden Jubilee wing, which was a much-needed improvement in facilities at King’s.

The late Queen also visited Brixton as part of her silver jubilee celebrations in 1977. A lovely photograph held by Lambeth archives shows Brixton’s diverse community coming out to welcome her and the Queen smiling and clearly making eye contact with a child in the front row of the crowd.

Most recently, in 2013, the late Queen visited a small but hugely important charity in Brixton. Ebony Horse Club is a riding centre situated in an area with a high level of deprivation. It is brilliant and enables children from all backgrounds to learn to ride, which is a relatively rare experience in any inner-city setting, and to benefit from being around animals and learning equestrian skills. The late Queen’s love of horses is well documented, and I know it was very special to Ebony Horse Club to have her support for its work in making the experiences that delighted her so much—being around horses, caring for them and riding them—available to everyone, irrespective of income or background. The connection continues today, because the Queen Consort is the patron of Ebony Horse Club and recently hosted not only the staff and riders but a number of horses at a reception at Clarence House.

Our country has seen huge changes and great challenges during the 70 years of the late Queen’s reign. It is testament to her character, her humanity and her willingness to reflect and adapt that she was able to be a constant throughout such a long period and through so many changes, especially in her relationship with the Commonwealth. Her late Majesty’s lifetime of service will be remembered with gratitude. May she rest in peace.

September 11, 2022
Daniel Kawczynski – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Daniel Kawczynski, the Conservative MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

I rise on behalf of the people of Shrewsbury and the surrounding Shropshire villages to pay tribute to Her Majesty. When I met Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace, she looked at me and immediately started to tease me—to rib me mercilessly—about the difference in height, she being 5 feet 2 inches and me being 6 feet 9 inches. Of course, that immediately broke the ice. I was so nervous at meeting my sovereign for the first time, and it was so good to have that joke at the start of our interaction. Later on in the evening, she was standing at one end of the room and I was at the other end. In front of everybody, she continued teasing me with a gesture about the difference in height.

The most important thing that happened that evening, however, was that the Queen realised that I was the only Polish-born British Member of Parliament. She started to talk to me about her pride in the contribution of Polish fighter pilots during the second world war. She referenced the fact that the Polish 303 squadron shot down more enemy aircraft in the battle of Britain than any other squadron did, and she paid tribute to the extraordinary contribution of Polish mathematicians and cryptographers in helping to break the enigma code at Bletchley, and to the forces that joined the British Eighth Army in north Africa and at Monte Cassino. Of course, my heart melted.

Being the only Polish-born British Member of Parliament and listening to our sovereign outlining her pride in the Polish contribution, and talking about how her father had outlined to her his pride in it, is something that I will always remember. She reigned so successfully because she used emotional intelligence, and emotional intelligence was her driving force. The communist regime in the country of my birth has been consigned to the ash heap of history because it ruled through fear, intimidation and the secret police. It is gone, whereas Her Majesty’s memory is eternal because of the love and kindness that she showed us all.

September 11, 2022
John Nicolson – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by John Nicolson, the SNP MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

I keep thinking of that final photo of the Queen, taken only this week as she welcomed the Prime Minister to Balmoral. It is the most poignant of images. She is standing by an open fire with a familiar no-nonsense hairdo, and she is wearing a comfortable kilt. But a closer examination of the familiar figure reveals that she is struggling to lift her head, her right hand looks badly bruised and she is leaning heavily on a stick. I suspect that she must have been feeling tired and sore, but she is wearing make-up and smiling a warm welcome. How brave that was and how dutiful. We look at the photo with affection and respect because it is Queen Elizabeth but also because, for so many of us, her bravery so close to the moment of her passing will remind us of all those we have loved and lost—all the mothers and grandmothers we have known and admired for their quiet, anonymous courage.

Few of us knew the Queen personally, but we all felt somehow that we did, and there are recurring themes as the tributes pour in. She was a woman of great religious faith who did not fear death. She was capable of many quiet acts of sensitivity and compassion away from the public eye. She could be very funny, with a dry wit and a mischievous talent for mimicry, and she did not like folk who were pompous or overly grand—despite, I suspect, too often finding herself surrounded by them. She loved Scotland the most of any country and was at her happiest when driving around in the lashing rain at Balmoral, gently torturing urban Westminster politicians who arrived with city clothes and sometimes starched personalities.

While no one imagined that the Queen was a political radical, those who talked to her privately report that she had moved with the times, whether on climate change, gender equality, LGBT rights or a recent decision to stop wearing fur. Though she was possibly—probably—not a passionate Scottish independence supporter, she seems to have enjoyed warm relations with recent First Ministers, who appear to have been as charmed by her as the most ardent Unionist. She loved, apparently, being called Elizabeth, Queen of Scots—perhaps recognising that the advice to take the title of Elizabeth II all those decades ago was not the most inclusive given to her.

The Queen was among the last of the war-time generation. That gave her a special bond with politicians who had served: Heath and Healey, Callaghan and Jenkins. They were a generation who saw the devastation that war caused in our continent, and were committed to building a new, more united Europe. My much-loved mum, who died recently, was the Queen’s age and a passionate supporter of European integration, because she had known the horror of war and celebrated the peace that our generation perhaps appreciates too little. One of the most moving tributes to the Queen this week, as we all know, has come from the French President. We will miss her, and we will together celebrate her life over the coming days and weeks. May she rest in peace.

September 11, 2022
Nickie Aiken – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Nickie Aiken, the Cities of London and Westminster, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

I am grateful for the opportunity to place on the record, on behalf of my constituents, the huge appreciation that we all share for the life and service of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. I also place on the record my condolences to His Majesty the King, and to all the royal family, about which much has been said already.

I feel humbled to stand here today as the Member of Parliament for the Cities of London and Westminster, a constituency with such rich links to Her Majesty’s reign—from her birth in Bruton Street in Mayfair to her funeral, which will be held in Westminster Abbey.

The two Cities were the vessel from which Her Majesty ruled, advised and steered our nation. Indeed, the two Cities are home to so many of the physical monuments of her reign. There is Buckingham Palace, of course, which has become the epicentre of the nation’s grief in the past two days. There is the Mall, the national stage for the pomp and ceremony that binds us to our past and our future. It has seen coronation processions, the daily routes of the Queen’s Guard, and the celebrations we saw back in the summer for the Queen’s platinum jubilee.

There are St James’s Palace and Clarence House, where the Queen spent much of her youth and raised her young family before she took the throne in 1952. And of course there are Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s cathedral. The former was so pivotal in her life, from her marriage to her coronation and now, sadly, her funeral. The latter played an integral role in marking her extraordinary reign, especially with the services celebrating her silver, gold and diamond jubilees and, only a few months ago, that celebrating her platinum jubilee, which I was honoured to attend. Last night, of course, the cathedral led the first of many services of thanksgiving to our late Sovereign.

When thinking about the Queen, I think of her role as the Head of State. For me, one of her everlasting legacies will be how she brought together the Commonwealth nations, growing their union from eight countries to 56 collective nations brought together under her stewardship. I often think how unappreciated Her Majesty’s skills in diplomacy were. Just think about what our world looked like at the beginning of her reign, and what it is now. By sheer force of character, she healed a deeply fractured world post empire. She fostered a family of nations that bore no resemblance to the empire of the past and that was instead built on the values of friendship, freedom and peace. Looking at the Cities of London and Westminster, I see the epitome of the Commonwealth’s legacy in both people and values, and we have the late Queen to thank for that. Like everyone else, when we heard the news of the late Queen’s passing, it hit us personally, because she had been such a constant throughout our lives and we have all shared in the celebrations of her life.

One of my first memories of the Queen was the silver jubilee in 1977. As a Brownie, I received the 25p silver coin, and I recall the excitement of receiving that gift. For the diamond jubilee, my own daughter Georgia, then aged eight, was invited to present Her Majesty with a bouquet of flowers when she visited Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly on the first stop of her jubilee tour.

For me, the Queen had a unique ability to tap into the hearts of every single person, and a lot of that was because of her characteristic sense of humour and sense of fun, which cut through with people of all ages and backgrounds. In fact, I remember sitting on the sofa with my son Harry as we watched the opening of the Olympics in 2012, and the joy on his face at seeing the Queen jump out of a helicopter with James Bond. I think to this day he still believes that it happened. I felt a similar feeling for the new generation of children as we saw her share tea with Paddington Bear this summer. It is comforting to me that she placed such a premium on our future generations—especially now, as we look to the next generation of the Crown in King Charles III. Indeed, I was moved to see the new King and the Queen Consort walk into Buckingham Palace as monarch and Queen for the first time.

As a new chapter in our history begins, the Cities of London and Westminster now prepare for another landmark in the Crown’s passage through history: the funeral of Elizabeth the Great and the coronation of King Charles III in Westminster Abbey. For that, I say God bless the Queen and long live the King.

September 11, 2022
Jessica Morden – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Jessica Morden, the Labour MP for Newport East, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.

That so many hon. Members have waited patiently over the past two days to pay our tributes on the passing of Her Majesty the Queen is testament to the real depth of feeling—the sorrow and the love—that we all want to convey on behalf of our constituents at this moment of huge loss. On behalf of all our communities in Newport East, I too wish to honour her memory; to put on the record our deepest condolences on the passing of an extraordinary monarch who faithfully served our country all her long life, and who has just always been there in challenging and ever-changing times; and to send our love to her family as they grieve.

As Princess Elizabeth, Her Majesty’s first official visit outside of London was to Newport, where, at the time, hundreds of men and women were working at the Royal Ordnance factory on Corporation Road, producing munitions for the invasion of occupied Europe. It is fair to say that that generation felt a special kinship with the Queen, not least because of her dedication to support the war effort herself as a serving member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. That service initiated a lifelong bond with our armed forces community, which, as other Members have said, is clearly something that she took great personal pride in throughout her life. That was much appreciated in Newport East. As Queen, she opened Llanwern steelworks, which still produces world-class steel today. She returned to officially open the Severn bridge and granted Newport city status—all transformative for our part of south-east Wales, and the Queen was at the heart of it.

One constituent summed it up for many, writing that

“the loss of our Queen feels personal for our family”.

That sentiment is echoed by many constituents. For the Morses, who sadly passed on recently, meeting the Queen at a garden party was one of the highlights of their lives. A constituent shared a photo of their daughter Heather presenting a bouquet to the Queen. Maisy, who was presented to the Queen at the opening of the Senedd, felt, as she put it,

“her astounding presence and warmth”.

But whether you had met her or not mattered little: she was a constant presence and an emblem of 70 years of monumental change, love and loss in the lives of millions.

In the Prayers that begin each day in this Chamber, we focus on service above self—something that is easier to say than do. The Queen’s seven decades of public service exemplified that commitment—not the grandeur of her status, not the ceremony that surrounded her, but her embodiment of the values, the integrity, the history and the standards we all seek to live by and to have at the heart of British life. She demonstrated those values every day, yet she was seen not as remote and distant but as personal and human while still unique. Her last service has been to unite the country in mourning her loss. Our task now is to integrate her unifying legacy of service and integrity into all we do. May she rest in peace. God save the King.

September 11, 2022