Revealed: Queen backs Brexit as alleged EU bust-up with ex-Deputy PM emerges
THE Queen has been hailed as a backer of Brexit tonight after details emerged of an extraordinary alleged bust-up between her and Nick Clegg over Europe.
Her Majesty let rip at the then Deputy PM during a lunch at Windsor Castle, The Sun has been told.
The 89-year-old monarch firmly told passionate pro-European Mr Clegg that she believed the EU was heading in the wrong direction.
Advertisement
Her stinging reprimand went on for “quite a while”, leaving other guests around the table stunned.
The account of the bombshell lunch during the last government - which a handful of other government ministers also attended - has been relayed to The Sun by a highly reliable source.
The senior source said: “People who heard their conversation were left in no doubt at all about the Queen’s views on European integration.
“It was really something, and it went on for quite a while.
“The EU is clearly something Her Majesty feels passionately about.”
The monarch is also said to have revealed her Eurosceptic feelings during a separate conversation with MPs at a Buckingham Palace reception.
READ MORE:
One of a group of Parliamentarians in a circle with her at the time asked Her Majesty for her thoughts on Brussels.
The Queen is said to have snapped back angrily: “I don’t understand Europe”.
A parliamentary source, who relayed the remark to The Sun, said: “It was said with quite some venom and emotion. I shall never forget it”.
The claims will explode a furious controversy.
Brexit-backing Tory MPs are already leaping on The Sun’s revelations as a strong sign the Queen is secretly on the side of Leave ahead of the landmark EU referendum on June 23.
But British monarchs are deemed to be above politics and have always tried hard to stay out of divisive issues.
The upcoming EU referendum is one of the most divisive in decades, splitting the country down the middle on whether to remain or leave.
Buckingham Palace and Mr Clegg tried to pour cold water on the bust-up claim, but neither expressly denied a heated debate between the Queen and the former Lib Dem leader had taken place.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “The Queen remains politically neutral, as she has for 63 years. We would never comment on spurious, anonymously sourced claims.
“The referendum will be a matter for the British people.”
Former Lib Dem boss Mr Clegg told The Sun: “I have absolutely no recollection of it.
“I don’t have a photographic memory. But I think I would have remembered something as stark or significant as you have made it out to be.
“No doubt you’ll speak to someone else and they’ll say, ‘I was there I heard it’. Fine.
“But I really can’t remember it at all.
“Anyway, without sounding pompous, I find it rather distasteful to reveal conversations with the Queen.”
Despite the longstanding tradition for Royals to stay out of politics, The Queen was seen to have controversially intervened in the referendum on Scottish independence in September 2014.
In remarks widely judged to have been a call to keep Great Britain together, Her Majesty told well-wishers after a Sunday church service that voters should “think very carefully” before making their decision.
It is believed the remark had been carefully cooked up by the Queen’s top official Sir Christopher Geidt and Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood — who is the PM’s most senior mandarin — after the government appealed for her help when polls showed a surge in support for the 'Yes' campaign.
The only other time the Queen was embroiled in a major political controversy was in 1986, when The Sunday Times reported that then PM Margaret Thatcher’s social policies and attitude to the Commonwealth caused Her Majesty dismay.
Buckingham Palace issued a string of denials but the Sunday Times stood by its story.
It emerged the source was the Queen’s Press Secretary Michael Shea, who was eventually forced to leave his job.
Fears are also growing the Queen will come under heavy pressure from No10 to make a pro-EU intervention during her official 90th birthday celebrations in mid-June, just days before the nationwide vote.
Every word of the monarch’s public utterances at the time will be pored over by observers for any sign of her personal feelings.
Within Royal circles, the Duke of Edinburgh’s anti-EU views are also widely known.
The 94-year-old has been overheard making his significant dislike of Brussels very clear in private remarks.
But the views of younger members of the Royal Family are less well known.
Prince William was dragged into a bitter row last month when remarks in a speech he made at the Foreign Office were interpreted as being a tacit signal that he wants the UK to stay in the EU.
Kensington Palace insisted the Duke of Cambridge had not meant give any backing to either side.
Anti-EU campaigner and Tory MP Jacob Rees Mogg said: “I’d be delighted if this was true and Her Majesty is a Brexiter.
“The reason we all sing God Save The Queen so heartily is because we always believe she is there to protect us from European encroachment.”
Another leading Tory Eurosceptic, MP Steve Baker, said: “This is a happy day for those of us who have sworn allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen, her heirs and successors.
“I would be delighted to welcome Her Majesty to our cause.
“I’ve insisted the government must not to drag the monarchy into this debate, but I may have to make an exception to my high principles on this occasion.”
Don’t voters have a right to know what the Queen thinks on the EU?
By TOM NEWTON DUNN, Political Editor
OUR revelations will trigger an almighty row, because the Queen loathes little more than being dragged into an ugly political knife fight.
Constitutionally, it is vital for the monarch to remain about the fray, no matter how important the issue is – and they don’t come much bigger than Brexit.
Buckingham Palace may even go as far as formally denying her anti-EU remarks that we are reporting were ever made.
Yet Her Majesty’s most senior officials pointedly did not do so tonight. Neither did Nick Clegg.
We would also not be taking the big step in reporting them if they had not come from two different and impeccably placed sources.
The Queen is very arguably the most respected stateswoman in the world.
If she has a view on something as big as Brexit, don’t voters have a right to know what it is?
Hate it as she might, Her Majesty now has form for political interference.
It is now beyond doubt that she made a very careful intervention in the Scottish independence referendum to back a vote for the union.
Can it be right that the Queen’s politics should only be known when she and the Prime Minister deem it so between them?
It is a massive debate. But remember who started it.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
Please sign up or log in to comment.
JEG
Yellow and Black
Catapa Martin
Catapa Martin
keith bowden
Gerard Hoogland
podcast
Catapa Martin
matthew dunster
podcast
vindi62
Catapa Martin
vindi62
andrew bolger
vindi62
Catapa Martin
TJ Y
Adrian Newman
sparkyone75
Stephen Kelly
Graham Buckler
Adrian Newman
Gillybean Gillybean
robw71
vencedor
Denis Loretto
Oldun
Denis Loretto
Hendis
michael williams
Moonk
George Kendall
Michael Dance
TJ Y
chiangmai1
Bella
Sarah smith
Sarah smith
Yellow and Black
David Broomfield
KB DM
Michael Dance
TJ Y
KB DM
Michael Dance
KB DM
DjSteveyG
48 Comments
Cameron, Old Bill Should Nick Clegg, The Way This "Once Great" Country is Heading it Won't Be Too Long Before The Royal Family Begin To Emigrate and Who Could Blame Them.
Who knows if it is true or not? The queen and the whole royal family are supposed to be neutral in politics affecting the country and we all know what a consummate liar Clegg is so I suppose we have to decide for ourselves what we want to believe.
Rather than quoting two unnamed sources referring to a private conversation, overheard years ago, could TheSun please report actual warnings against Brexit from elected heads of state around? E.g. the Prime Ministers of Ireland, India, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands or Rupert Murdoch’s home the USA: http://iitm.be/10UKIP ? I know of only one head of state supporting Brexit: Russia’s Vladimir Putin, not known to respect other nation's sovereignity.
How low can the TheSun go? Two unnamed sources reporting an alleged private conversation about EU issues they claim to have overheard years ago does NOT mean the Queen backs Brexit. BTW, being critical of the UK government doesn't mean I am going to emigrate (as so many Brits have done: http://iitm.be/UKemigrants ), just like being critical of the EU doesn't mean I support Brexit. I guess, the same applies for The Queen as a private person.
Clegg said, “I have absolutely no recollection of it.", there, if he says that then we can totally believe him.........yeah right.
I really don't understand why the royals still are in their position. The Great War was a family quarrel, the King, the Kaiser and the Zsar were all related to queen Victoria, it was a family quarrel that cost the people so many of their men. In Germany they lost their power, in Ryssia too, but it seems like the British people still swallow this crap.
This is 2016 folks. I know you love your traditions, but why do they still have so much influence, that's what I don't understand.
I would trust the Queen over Mark Carney any day of the week. Go Mam Go.
@podcast Between you the Queen that are three other people: Do you trust The Sun (owned by an Australian emigrant) and the two unnamed sources?
This was meant to have been said in 2011 , come on The Sun surely you have better stories than this to print....
@matthew dunster I'd sooner read this than the lies and b******t that comes out of Cameron's mouth.
The queen could have vetoed joining the eu when Edward Heath first took us into it, but she said nothing.According to many experts on the British constitution, Britain’s entry into the eu was, and still is, ILLEGAL!According to these experts handing over the sovereignty of one nation to another WITHOUT the permission of that nations people is considered as treason, ergo, every PM from Edward Heath to Cameron (including the queen) has committed treason against the British people.Why has the mainline media kept this hidden from the British people?It seems the only way to get the truth is from YouTube. It has taken the queen 43 years to figure out that the eu is corrupt?
@vindi62 It has not been hidden. It is just that you are stating nonsense.
@Catapa Martin @vindi62 Check-out Michael Shrimpton and a few other experts on the British constitution on YouTube. Why haven't we heard any of this before? Because the mainline media, like our government covers it up.
We now have Royal Assent for our Brexit,thank you MA am! A wise choice with your people 3 cheers for Eliz 2 and,hip hip hooray x3
@andrew bolger It took her 43 years to figure that out? She could have stopped Edward Heath in his tracks from taking us into the eu.
@andrew bolger How low can the TheSun go? Two unnamed sources reporting an alleged private conversation about EU issues they claim to have overheard years ago does NOT mean the Queen backs Brexit.
EXCLUSIVE - The Sun is printing utter BS again without any factual evidence to back up their utter rubbish.
Time the right wing press was made accountable for their lies. For every lie this paper prints, Murdoch should be forced to tweet a retraction. For every lie this paper prints - it should be forced to print a front page retraction in big bold headlines.
Anyone who believes this story for a second is a blithering idiot.
Time the right wing press was made accountable for their lies. For every lie this paper prints, Murdoch should be forced to tweet a retraction. For every lie this paper prints - it should be forced to print a front page retraction in big bold headlines.
Anyone who believes this story for a second is a blithering idiot.
@TJ Y who would your rather hear your BS from? The BBC? I've never seen so much "in" propaganda in all my life! And worst of all, they force us to pay to listen to it. Fearmongering.
These issues are put out there to take attention away from the real facts,we seeing more of it everyday.Carney from Bank of England chipped in yesterday.Who is running the out campaign??? Do they need help??? He stated there " COULD " be financial risk there " MAY " be risks to finances and jobs.The words are the key because he also stated there" ARE" risks to staying IN. Ifs and maybes on one hand ,definitely on the other !! Come on OUT campaigners up your game.Im not a royalist ,the money brought in by Crown Estates is Ours she's only the present Guardian,but I am interested in her thoughts!! I will make my own decision but want hard facts not BS...
Yes,yes, we have had these leftist type remarks for years and years, it doesn't stand up, would you rather have Cameron as Queen lol, the queen is spot on and has forgotten more than Cameron or Clegg put together. Brexit now.
An un-elected housewife, living in a cosseted environment, who accepts £42 million from the British tax payer (excluding security costs), ensures her son and grandson see confidential Government papers and draws around £20 million as an EU farming subsidy for her private, Sandringham Estate. So Elizabeth wishes to leave the EU. Typical of the worst of Britain! Not very well educated and milking the system for everything they can get!
@Graham Buckler I don't remember voting to contibute to the salaries of the European bureaucrats. When I have my vote in May I'll be voting to fund the Queen out of my own tax contributions. Or, let's get rid of the Queen, become a euro-drone and let our tourism industry take the hit.
@Graham Buckler The Queen and other members of her family attract lots of wealth to this country, they earn it, Cameron fritters it away.
God save the queen
At her age, she still shows more alertness than Merkel...
How about this from the Daily Telegraph in June 2015 - long after the so-called bust-up reported here.
"The Queen said that division in Europe was “dangerous”, ahead of crucial negotiations in Brussels that could shape the future of the EU.
In a speech at a state banquet in Berlin, attended by David Cameron and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, Her Majesty emphasised Britain’s “key part” in the shaping of the Continent. She also lauded Britain’s “irreversible” friendship with Germany since the Second World War.
Her comments are likely to be interpreted as a plea for Britain to remain a member of the European Union, with a referendum due on the issue before the end of 2017."
This is a direct quote and seems to me a much more credible indication of the views Her Majesty is likely to hold.
I must say there is an increasing note of desperation in the contributions from the brexiteers. Michael Williams below doesn't even want us to have a vote! And I'll bet he has the nerve to bleat about "lack of democracy" in relation to Europe.
Has it ever occurred to you that the Queen was reading a prepared speech and not one she had written herself? Whatever her views she is entitled to them and should stay away from expressing them in public. Like the rest of us she only has one vote to use as she sees fit.
Yeah right - the Queen just reads things out without a clue as to their import,does she?. This is the lady who showed remarkable courage in going to the Republic of Ireland when dissident republicans were still (as they are now) carrying out lethal attacks and conducted herself impeccably through a political minefield. She did more for the troubled history of Anglo-Irish relations in that visit than most politicians have done in their lifetimes. The bile about her and the monarchy in general displayed in some of the posts in this thread is disgusting and the Sun owes her an abject apology for using her name in vain in their Brexit campaign.
I see the Queen as a Person who may be getting on in years but still has her Faculties about her - but what she can see & hear also listen to is the United Kingdom's Rights & Laws being Stifled by the E.U. at every turn, The money we pay into this Beaurocratic Club could be spent on things that the United Kingdom needs instead of wasteful things in the E.U I what out so Brexit for me.
Forget the referendum OUT NOW.
I see no real reason for any British person to want to stay in the EU although can see why some would be led by the scaremongering on offer and even just the simple fear of change and that is understandable. However, the EU has become toxic, was a good idea that is simply now not so good. The more influential people on board in leaving the better but we do need more and more facts. Especially from the people who want to stay - it all seems to be guesswork and speculation from them at the moment.
If this "senior source" is honourable, they will let the Sun to tell us who they are.
If not, why should we believe a word they say?
@George Kendall Does it take a genius? Why would you tell a media outlet your name if you are close to the royal family? Would you like to be jailed or killed (well not in this day in age I suppose) for leaking secret information which is between the Royal Family and the important people there..,
@George Kendall none of the Sun's sources are reliable because they are all compulsive & sensationalist liars.
the queen knows it was wrong in the first place,but she says nothing.that is her role.lets get out asap
Only an Out vote will do. The EU is good in principal but has become mired in its own bureaucracy and there seems no point having general elections when the real power goes to unelected unknowns somewhere in Europe. Every member of the EU has chosen to ignore or adapt some of the laws so they have all, by default, agreed it is a monster that needs slaying. There will still be human rights, trade and unity, but on our terms. I want British taxpayers money to house, feed and educate our own before filling the coffers of those overseas "visitors" who seem to think we are a soft touch.
Will said @Bella
*well said. Apologies for typo.
@Bella You said it like it is for most of us
I'm English and wan't out of EU, and very happy if the Queen is on board.
Anyone who's British and with sound mind will want to leave the EU! Staying in it is certain doom! Germany knows it, but the. Germany has always wanted to rule the world............
@KB DM Hear hear! Our country, Our borders & Our laws!!!!! We want our Great Britain back!
@KB DM anyone with sound mind & common sense will know this referendum has NEVER been about our borders / migration. If we vote leave, nothing will change except we'll be paying a hell of a lot more for everyday things. The gap between rich & poor will accelerate.
@TJY lmao! I assume you have a vested interest in us not gaining control of our borders? The rich poor divide is purely down to the Tory, they use EU laws to exellerate this gap as it draws them nearer to a EU parliament in which the top Tory gets a lush job and be damned with the poor folk who are condemned to live among animals who wish to rape and kill, the EU has ONE goal, total control from Brussels, all taxes all laws all armies one leader, and what's the betting that's Germany? With France as deputy dawg! We would be forced out of NATO have all export taken from us and essentially be a dumping ground like Greece, for all the trash that's out there, my mind is sound and I only want prosperity and safe streets for us here, if you don't like the future where we control who come and goes and who stays and who we draw arms with and who trade with? Plenty other EU countries for you to live in...............
@KB DM I disagree with the Tory bit as I am a Tory myself but I'm no MP. I'm a member of the Conservatives party and a lot of us want out. The only reason our leader (PM) is for staying in is because he's spent over 35+ hours trying to get a better deal for the UK. We didn't get what we wanted but he has to stand by what he has because otherwise we can't do our job to run Britain and look weak. So he stands by what he has and wants to stay. However many Tory's see the light and want out. A few I can name are:
- Boris Johnson (Hopefully our next leader of the Conservatives)
- Michael Gove (Surrey Heath tory MP)
- Nadhim Zahawi (My local tory MP Stratford Upon Avon)
- Karl Mccartney (Lincoln tory MP)
- Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire tory MP)
I can go on but us Tory's want out just like everyone who really loves the UK, the people who want to stay in minus the PM are people who hate Britain.
I don't hate Torys anymore than I hate labour with an equally lunatic leader in Corbyn, but it's long Ben a Tory policy to tax the poor and hit working class with the propping up of the country, they do the worst jobs for the worst pay and have every luxury taxed beyond their means, it's just the Tory way, they are so far removed from daily life and assume that everyone has an equal chance in life, it's is same thinking that has brought the NHS to its knees but then the Tory has always anted the NHS to be a private institute where people pay for care and a scale, the more money the better the care, but I digress, they have brought in millions, yes millions of migrants let's not lie about who comes in legally or otherwise and I already see caMORON bullying other Tory members and pointing out careers with fat pay checks will be in peril if they do not switch sides, we saw a major shift just the other day, tho we all saw that coming and didn't even factor it in in the first place, the EU secretly pulls the strings of high profile members of the Tory party as well as labour, but these are individuals who gain from being in, the majority lose everything! Had caMORON wanted to show how strong we were he would have said take my demands or I will actively campaign to leave, the show of a good leader, as it is he will be a laughing stock when we leave and Boris takes over............. People of Britain who love Britain should now work together for this interim, labour Tory ukip whoever! If you Love Britiain you vote OUT as its the only way to keep Britain! If we stay then in a few short years we will no longer have control of any aspect of our immigration over run holding pen that was once great!
I don't think the Queen understands what she had for breakfast let alone complicated matters.
She's quoted as "I don't understand Europe"? Six letter words to large Maam?
I am team Brexit and while I like Wills and Harry, time the Queen stood down as she is a lethargic institute. Charles should go to.
With Wills and Kate we would have a generation of monarchs who would relate to younger people - like me?
By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. You can change this and find out more by following this link.
Accept Cookies
No comments:
Post a Comment