Tag: Speeches

David Mundell – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by David Mundell, the Conservative MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, in the House of Commons on 9 September 2022.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II had a lifelong and deep-felt love for Scotland, which we have already heard about. That was reciprocated by the people of Scotland, who held her, and indeed still hold her, in deep affection. I had the opportunity myself to see that close up, both as a Member of the Scottish Parliament when it reconvened in 1999, and subsequently as Secretary of State for Scotland. At the opening of the Scottish Parliament, the Queen declared:

“I have trust in the good judgement of the Scottish people, I have faith in your commitment to their service and I am confident in the future of Scotland.”

She reaffirmed that belief in, and commitment to, Scotland on each subsequent opening of the Scottish Parliament, although she told me she always found it amusing that, as soon as the Scottish Parliament was formally opened, it went on recess, or on holiday, as she referred to it.

As we have heard, the Queen was also extremely well informed about everything that was going on in politics. At the time of my first substantive conversation with her as Secretary of State, there had been a major incident in Parliament. In 2015, rather more members of the Scottish National party had been elected than might have been anticipated, and there was a little conflict about who should sit on one of the Opposition Benches—the then Member for Bolsover and some other Labour Members were not so keen on SNP members occupying it. The Queen was very familiar with the situation and sought to interrogate me on the rights and wrongs of the issue, but I found myself blurting out, “Oh, your Majesty, that’s buttockgate.” I thought, “In my first meeting with the Queen, I’ve said the word ‘buttock’. What is to happen?” But rather than me being taken off to the Tower or some other place, the Queen just laughed. She found it all very amusing. She was interested in what was happening in Parliament and in the day-to-day events.

The Queen had many connections with my constituency, from opening the Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary, to visiting the town of Lockerbie after the devastating air disaster. Most tellingly, I found a clipping from a 1956 edition of The Glasgow Herald. It stated:

“Previous royal visits to Scotland having neglected to include Biggar, in South Lanarkshire, the Queen decided to make amends in October of 1956. As this paper observed: ‘A thoughtful gesture by Her Majesty added 90 minutes in time and 35 miles in distance to her programme.’”

But she felt that Biggar was the only county town omitted from recent royal tours. That was the Queen. She wanted to include every community across the United Kingdom and of course the people of Biggar turned out in their masses to thank her for that very generous gesture.

Scotland and the whole of the United Kingdom have lost not just the Queen but a dear and true friend whose like we shall not see again. God bless her and God save the King.

September 9, 2022
Chris Bryant – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Chris Bryant, the Labour MP for Rhondda, in the House of Commons on 9 September 2022.

“Ring out the old, ring in the new,”

wrote Tennyson on the death of his much-loved friend. We proclaim, “The Queen is dead, long live the King”, but it feels too sudden, too soon, too sharp a turn in our lives. The death of a queen is painful—it hurts. We do not have to ask,

“O death, where is thy sting?”

because we know—the nation feels the sting of death. It is as if a member of our own family has departed. Weirdly, we feel as if we ought to tell members of our family who have long departed the news. Even Google, with its brightly coloured logo, is grey today, which is sort of ironic for Her Majesty, who wore every colour under the sun at some point in her life.

The poet, priest and Member of Parliament, John Donne, said when preaching at Whitehall in 1627 that the protection against a fearful death was a life devoted to a calling.

That is exactly what it was—a life devoted to a calling. How often must the Queen have thought, “Not another opening. Not another royal variety performance. Not another unfunny comedian. Not another Prime Minister.” Yet she did her duty. In the words of the promise of the boy scouts and the guides,

“to do my best to do my duty to God and to the Queen”.

She did her duty to herself.

I pledged my allegiance to the Queen 10 times as a clergyman and as Member of Parliament—we all have—and to her heirs and successors. In a sense, that is not personal at all. Our allegiance was to her as Head of State—the embodiment of our shared life as the United Kingdom—but I suspect that we felt that we all owed allegiance to her personally, because she had earned her moral authority. She donned a uniform to do her bit to fight fascism. She could not lead us into battle, or give us laws, or administer justice, but she gave us her heart and her devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations, as she faithfully promised in 1957.

There are other queens. I have met a few—but then again, too few to mention. However, we—and, I note, the President of France—call only one the Queen

The Queen’s face was on the coins my constituents started producing at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant in 1953. However, to mix my poets, she knew that

“Our little systems have their day”—

we are

“Dress’d in a little brief authority”.

I know that some people deify the monarchy, but that is to miss the point: the point is the humanity of the monarchy. Richard II, under whose great hammerbeam ceiling Her Majesty will lie in state in a few days’ time, is given a great speech by Shakespeare, which ends:

“You have mistook me all this while.

I live with bread like you, feel want

Taste grief, need friends”—

not just bread, of course, but marmalade sandwiches as well.

Most movingly of all, the Queen was as human as any other widow in losing her husband, her consort, her life companion. None will forget her sitting alone at Philip’s funeral. It is a sign of their enduring love that her and Philip’s deaths came closer in time than those of any other reigning monarch and their consort in our history. I thank God that it was in her reign that men were able to declare their love to one another, and women were able to do the same.

I end with words that have never felt more appropriate than for our longest-reigning monarch, who lived through holocaust and war, and led us through years of unimaginable turbulence:

“The weight of this sad time we must obey;

Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.

The oldest hath borne most: we that are young

Shall never see so much, nor live so long.”

God save the King.

September 9, 2022
Mel Stride – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Mel Stride, the Conservative MP for Central Devon, in the House of Commons on 9 September 2022.

I rise to pay tribute to a very remarkable and wonderful lady, not just on my own behalf but on behalf of the constituents of Central Devon.

Queen Elizabeth II, our longest-reigning monarch, a passionate Head of the Commonwealth for which she did so much, was loved, admired and recognised throughout the world in a life that spanned so much. When she came to the throne, world war two was a very fresh memory, there was still rationing and man had yet to walk on the moon. She reigned through Suez and the Cuban missile crisis; she saw the Beatles, she saw a solitary football World cup victory and she saw Concorde fly; she witnessed industrial unrest on an industrial scale; and in her own family she suffered great personal tragedy. She was there alongside us for the dawn of a new millennium. She joined James Bond for the opening of the London Olympics and Paddington for the jubilee. She said of the Lionesses and their recent triumph:

“You have all set an example that will be an inspiration for girls and women today, and for future generations.”

That could equally be said of her.

Elizabeth, as we have heard, has always been here. She has always been a part of our lives and a part of our world. Perhaps, in essence, that is why she will be so sorely missed. She was certainly with us in Devon and the west country; she would have known my constituency well, as I have no doubt she did all our constituencies. She was a frequent visitor to the south-west and was there as recently as the G7 summit, where for the first time she met President Biden, one of the 13 Presidents of the United States whose acquaintance she made—all of them since Harry S. Truman, with the exception of Lyndon Johnson.

When Her Majesty was 13, she accompanied her family, including her father King George VI, to the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth.

She would remember that as the first time she met a young cadet—her future husband, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. That is something of which Devon can be particularly proud. As Queen, she returned to Dartmouth with Prince Philip before the coronation.

Many of us have shared today our personal reflections of our contact with Her Majesty. Mine came as Comptroller of the Royal Household in our Whips Office and briefly as Lord President of the Council. My impression of her in my small number of private meetings with her was that she was sharp; that she was kindly; and that she was humorous—she had a twinkle in her eye. Indeed, when I went to see her for the first time, the equerry turned to me and, to put me at ease, told me a little anecdote about an ambassador who had gone to see her for the first time. On approaching her, to his horror, his phone sprang to life and started ringing, and he looked panicked. After he had turned it off, she turned to him and said, “Perhaps you should have answered it—it might have been something important.”

I thought that perhaps Her Majesty could be a little mischievous on occasion. I did not know her well enough to be sure of that, but I was certain of the fact that she could be great fun—that was something that shone through when meeting her—and wise, of course, based on her huge experience of life and the world. Just as everyone told me, she was someone who put you at your ease—someone it was good to be with. She made you feel special.

It was the honour of my life to spend a little time with her. Queen Elizabeth, thank you—you gave us all so much. Rest in peace. God save the King.

September 9, 2022
Caroline Lucas – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, in the House of Commons on 9 September 2022.

It is a privilege to speak on behalf of the Green party of England and Wales and pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II. Above all else, she was a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother. I know I speak for the people of Brighton, Pavilion when I offer my sincerest condolences, in particular to her immediate family and to her loved ones. They have lost someone very dear to them on a deeply personal level, and our thoughts are with them all.

But we have lost her too. Perhaps the most recognisable public figure in the world today, the Queen has been a uniquely enduring part of the fabric of our lives for nine remarkable decades. In moments of national crisis and in moments of national pride, she was always there. Through turbulence, through uncertainty, she was always there as a fixed point—as a steadying, guiding figure that we all felt we knew. And of course, for most of us, she is indeed the only monarch that we have ever known.

I, too, was drawn to the lines of Philip Larkin. Indeed, I find it symbolic that so many in the House have been drawn to the words that he wrote and which are engraved on a memorial in Queen Square in Bloomsbury, erected to mark Her Majesty’s silver jubilee. I hope the House will indulge me, as they bear repetition:

“In times when nothing stood

But worsened, or grew strange,

There was one constant good:

She did not change.”

Listening to the radio and watching the news over the past 24 hours or so, I have been struck by just how much that dependability and stability meant to people, by how many people’s lives the Queen touched in a very direct way, and by memories from those who met her of her deep humanity.

I know that there are millions of people in Britain who are not necessarily monarchists, but who are none the less deeply mourning the Queen; who feel a profound sense of loss; and who also had huge respect and admiration for her. They—we—saw in her an extraordinary work ethic, a deep stoicism and an extraordinary wisdom gained over so many years. We saw the values of selflessness and sense of duty, and also the personal side of her character: that humility, the kindness and the famous sense of humour that has been spoken about so much today. From the marmalade sandwiches allegedly secreted away in her iconic black handbag to joining James Bond on the zipwire, she was a Queen unafraid to be playful. So many people speak of the twinkle in her eye and of her genuine interest in the world, across which she travelled so extensively.

That determination to be seen to connect with people saw the Queen become the most travelled monarch in history, making more than 285 state visits. She broke many other records, too: she was not only our longest-serving monarch, but the one woman from the British royal family ever to have served in the armed forces and the only modern Head of State to have served during world war two. That all speaks to her driving purpose, that deep sense of duty.

Today, young and old, people of all faiths and none, royalists and republicans across our four nations, the Commonwealth and the world are united in recognition that she worked so tirelessly until the very last days of her remarkable life. From all walks of life and all corners of the globe, people want to pay their respects—and Her Majesty did inspire genuine respect, as well as admiration, love and affection. She is part of the world’s collective understanding of Britishness—the epitome of faith and steadfastness. I thank her for her devotion and for her dignity. Her enduring legacy will be as multifaceted as she herself was in life, but I believe that she would want the most abiding aspect of that legacy to be hope and solidarity, as symbolised by the double rainbow that stretched across the skies above Buckingham Palace yesterday, shortly after the announcement of her death. Rest in peace, Your Majesty, and thank you.

September 9, 2022
Roger Gale – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Roger Gale, the Conservative MP for North Thanet, in the House of Commons on 9 September 2022.

In paying tribute to Her late Majesty, may I, on behalf of my constituents in North Thanet, simply say that our condolences are with His Majesty King Charles, the Queen Consort and all the members of the royal family? The then Prince Charles, speaking at the jubilee, opened his remarks by saying: “Your Majesty, mummy”. I think we all need to remember that this family has lost a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother. We all feel their pain, and our thoughts and prayers really are with them.

I was nine years old when King George VI died. I can remember it fairly vividly. Rather like the right hon. Member for Derby South (Margaret Beckett), I think the next most memorable event in my connection with the royal family was the bar of chocolate that we were all given at the coronation—and I seem to remember we got a coronation mug as well.

For 70 years, so far as I am concerned, this great lady has been my lodestar, my monarch. I was listening on the wireless—I think some people called it a radio—this morning, on my way up from Kent, to a caller who said that if we really want to honour Her Majesty’s memory, then it would behove us well to emulate the way that she lived and served in her life. I think that is something that in this House we might all bear in mind.

Those of us who had the privilege of meeting Her Majesty face to face all remember—without exception, I think—what has been referred to over and over again today: the twinkle in those beautiful eyes and the smile that is now lighting up heaven. May she rest in peace. God save the King.

September 9, 2022
Diana Johnson – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Diana Johnson, the Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull North, in the House of Commons on 9 September 2022.

There have been some wonderful tributes to Her late Majesty the Queen; in particular, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Shabana Mahmood) talked about the importance of the Commonwealth and of faith to the late Queen.

This is my opportunity to say a few words on behalf of my constituents in Kingston upon Hull North. I was pleased when my right hon. and learned Friend the Leader of the Opposition referred to some words of the adopted son of Kingston upon Hull, the poet Philip Larkin, who penned them 45 years ago for the silver jubilee celebrations. As with all great poems, the words resonate as much on this day as they did in 1977. I repeat them:

“In times when nothing stood

But worsened, or grew strange,

There was one constant good:

She did not change.”

My city of Kingston upon Hull has a rebellious history when it comes to the monarchy, having slammed the city gates against the King in the civil war. But the city took Queen Elizabeth to our hearts, and we were very firmly in the royalist camp during this second Elizabethan age. Her Majesty visited the city many times and met its people. During her reign, she was in Hull on some of the most important days in the life of the city and the region. They include the opening of the iconic Humber bridge in 1981, celebrating the city’s 700th birthday in 1999, and visiting Hull in 2017 when we were the UK city of culture. The late Queen’s first visit was actually to Hull Royal Infirmary in 1957; she came again 50 years later to open the Queen’s Centre for Oncology and Haematology at Castle Hill Hospital in 2009. The city will miss her.

Although the sovereign’s passing is a historic moment for the United Kingdom, our Commonwealth and many others around the world, at this time we must remember above all else that a family has lost a beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. This loss to the nation resonates personally with the loss of one’s own parents or grandparents. In particular, I remember my auntie Betty—a staunch royalist who loved the Queen and was also born in 1926.

On behalf of the people of Hull, my thoughts and prayers are with the royal family at this saddest of times. I also express condolences on behalf of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, on which I sit. Although there is great sadness at this time, let us also remember a long life of service, so well lived and devoted to this nation—a life that should be celebrated. The Queen was a member of that greatest generation who herself, as we have heard, served in uniform in world war two, helping to secure our democracy’s survival against tyranny. This was also a Queen who embraced change throughout her life and saw us into the digital age.

It was a special honour to be sworn in as a Privy Councillor over Zoom during the covid pandemic; I did not have any of the worries about falling over the footstool. The Queen was on a very large screen in front of me. She looked entirely at ease and was taking this new technology completely in her stride—perhaps rather more so than the Lord President of the Council at that time, the right hon. Member for North East Somerset (Mr Rees-Mogg).

To conclude, like the vast majority of Britons alive today, I have known no other monarch; but sadly we now have reached the point where change has come. Alongside the condolences to the royal family, we look to the new King Charles III. One era is ending, and a new one is beginning. Queen Elizabeth II would want us to go forward as a great nation, in all our faiths and beliefs, proving that she was never mistaken in hers. God save the King.

September 9, 2022
Oliver Heald – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Oliver Heald, the Conservative MP for North East Hertfordshire, in the House of Commons on 9 September 2022.

I rise to make my own tribute as well as one on behalf of my constituents of North East Hertfordshire, in Royston, Baldock, Buntingford and Letchworth. The Queen was very much loved and admired in our area—a remarkable woman and wonderful head of state. She knew our area well from visiting her mother’s family, who live in St Paul’s Walden, a village near Hitchin.

We were lucky that the Queen was able to be with us for some of our area’s most important events. She opened the new North Herts Leisure Centre at Letchworth Garden City and later, in 1993, my first year as an MP, she came to open a new housing development at Beech Hill and a sheltered housing scheme at Tabor Court in Letchworth. Letchworth was also proud that she chose the Marmet pram, made in Letchworth, as the baby carriage for the new King. On such occasions, what struck me was the Queen’s ability to put people at their ease and get them to talk to her. She was kindly and had that dry sense of humour.

I remember one Privy Council meeting at a time when the country was having difficulties with the European Union—similar to those mentioned by the right hon. Member for Derby South (Margaret Beckett), although in a different period. At this particular meeting, Her Majesty approved the high hedges order for Guernsey. Afterwards, she said with a twinkle in her eye: “I am so pleased that we have sorted out those high hedges in Guernsey—is anything else going on?”

People in North East Hertfordshire loved the Queen and we will miss her. Our thoughts are with the royal family. Long live the King!

September 9, 2022
Shabana Mahmood – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Shabana Mahmood, the Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood, in the House of Commons on 9 September 2022.

It is an honour to be able to pay tribute to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and to offer my condolences and those of all of my constituents to King Charles and the whole royal family as they face their personal loss.

Right hon. and hon. Members have rightly praised Her Majesty’s admirable work ethic, her sense of duty, which has never wavered, and her unparalleled dedication to public service. Her Majesty served us right until the very end, forever committed to her people and her country. She lived and symbolised the very best of our constitutional system, the value of a royal family, what it gives to our country and the part that they play in our national life.

One of the proudest days of my life was when my dad was awarded an OBE at Buckingham Palace. My whole family just could not get over the fact that we would get the chance to hang out in the Queen’s house. On that day, it fell to the Queen’s daughter, the Princess Royal, to hand out the honours, but the whole occasion was made magical because it followed precisely the exact example of the Queen herself.

I will also never forget arriving in this place for the very first time in 2010, standing in front of the Speaker’s Chair and taking hold of this House’s copy of the holy Koran, on which I swore my loyalty to Her Majesty the Queen as one of this House’s first ever female Muslim Members of Parliament.

The Queen’s relationship with Birmingham was strong and, in return, we Brummies had a deep affection for her and gratitude for the time that she devoted to us in the 70 years of her reign. Over the years, she visited Villa Park, the Bullring, many of our railway stations, the NEC, the International Convention Centre, Pebble Mill and the Hippodrome.

Of course, we have just hosted the Commonwealth games, an important moment for our city, which has such a deep connection with the Commonwealth and which is inextricably linked with the Queen.

Like so many thousands of Brummies, as much as I am a child of Birmingham, England and Britain, I am also a child and grandchild of the Commonwealth. Millions of British citizens have a similar family history, making them a part of the Commonwealth family, and we recognise Her Majesty as the loving matriarch of the Commonwealth, its guardian and its guiding light. Her commitment to the Commonwealth and her championing of it recognised and respected our heritage. She gave institutional and spiritual meaning and the heart and soul of belonging to those of us who are citizens of our great nation, equal before the laws of our land, but who do not have centuries of birthright claim upon these our islands, and we thank her for it.

For me, the Queen’s Christian faith always stood out. She was a committed Christian and, as we know, Supreme Governor of the Church of England. It might surprise some that her commitment to her Christian faith could mean so much to those of us who practise and observe other faiths and belong to other faith communities, but in a speech at Lambeth Palace to mark her diamond jubilee, the Queen said:

“The concept of our established Church is occasionally misunderstood and, I believe, commonly under-appreciated. Its role is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country.”

She was Defender of the Faith, but she was a Queen for those of us with other faiths and, indeed, for those of none.

May God make it easy for her. May he give her loved ones strength. And if I may, I offer this House an Islamic verse, which Muslims recite when someone dies and which I hope will resonate with the Queen’s Christian faith, too:

“Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon”—

to God we Belong, and to God we all return.

September 9, 2022
Bernard Jenkin – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Bernard Jenkin, the Conservative MP for Harwich and North Essex, in the House of Commons on 9 September 2022.

On behalf of the constituents of Harwich and North Essex, I rise to pay tribute to Her late Majesty, whose whole life was the greatest example of public service we shall ever witness, whose kind heart, sharp intellect and huge wisdom were such a gift to the nation, and who had love in her soul for everyone and a serenity which even now calms the nation in these troubled times.

She inspired so many good causes, but I single out one: the Commonwealth—in 1952, a mere eight nations—which she led from being an emerging relic of a lost empire to a network of nations representing 2.5 billion people in the networked world in which we now live. Just one of her achievements, but what an achievement. What a legacy for future generations, including, may I say, the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra, whose foundation she supported and about which she spoke to me with such passion, knowing that we both had such interest in music.

Her devotion brought her to every corner of the kingdom, where she would show her humour and humanity. In 2004, when Ivan Henderson was still the Member of Parliament, she came to Harwich to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the town charter. Her programme included seeing the historic carvings in the town jail, but when the late Andy Morrison, the mayor, announced, “You will now be taken to the jail, your Majesty” a pall fell over the royal party. He attempted to rephrase the invitation, but Prince Philip just retorted, “That wasn’t much better!” and she threw back her head and roared with laughter.

Later that day, as she stepped into the crowd on Harwich quay, she said to the mayoress, Pam Morrison, “My dear, don’t let me miss any children.” A three-year-old boy was duly lifted over the barrier. He gave his flowers to the mayoress at first, but Her Majesty, unfazed, chatted to the boy and charmed him. He saw her take the little bunch of flowers into her own hands, and she carried them for the rest of the tour.

She combined global leadership, such principle and dedication with such humanity and care. She has gone to the light, who some call God, who inspires us all. God rest her soul. May he comfort all those who were closest to her. God save the King.

September 9, 2022
Drew Hendry – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Drew Hendry, the SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, in the House of Commons on 9 September 2022.

I never had the pleasure of meeting the late Queen personally, but I have met her son, the new King, on several occasions and I can testify personally to his deep love for the highlands. I know that my constituents in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey will want to join me in holding him in our thoughts as he deals with this most personal of losses, that of his mother.

But of course, as we know, the late Queen was also a grandmother and a great-grandmother. She acceded to the throne as a young woman at the age of 25, and was an inspiration and icon for many young women. As we have heard today, she became an inspiration and an icon for many older women, too. She was someone who, as we can see from the tributes internationally, was respected and admired far and wide. The vast majority of my constituents, whether they be monarchist, republican or anything in between, have never known a time when she was not our head of state. Our sympathy goes to her family and all those who are so deeply affected by her passing.

September 9, 2022