LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II has emphasised the need for Britons to come together to “seek out the common ground,” in what is being viewed as an appeal to overcome bitter divisions over Brexit.
Government ministers quickly interpreted the comments — a rare foray for the 92-year-old monarch into the political sphere — as broadly supportive of their desperate search for a compromise over Brexit.
With Britain in limbo just two months before the scheduled withdrawal from the EU on March 29, some lawmakers have been calling for the queen to intervene more forcefully and seek to reassure Britons who are worried about the future.
The queen appeared to do so obliquely in an address late on Thursday to members of the Women’s Institute (WI) near her Sandringham estate in eastern England — an association that she joined while still a princess in 1943.
“Of course, every generation faces fresh challenges and opportunities,” she said.
“As we look for new answers in the modern age, I for one prefer the tried and tested recipes, like speaking well of each other and respecting different points of view; coming together to seek out the common ground; and never losing sight of the bigger picture.
“To me, these approaches are timeless, and I commend them to everyone,” she said.
Her message comes amid intense argument in parliament about how to proceed on Brexit or whether to leave the EU at all.
“I think there is huge wisdom in those words,” finance minister Philip Hammond told BBC radio.
“It’s been our enormous strength over centuries that we have been able to find compromises that bring the nation together,” he said.
The royals tend to steer well clear of politics and, as head of state, the queen in particular is careful to stay neutral in public.
Some Conservative MPs have suggested the queen can block any legislation seeking to delay or impede Brexit.
That would prove hugely controversial in a country where the monarchy holds sweeping powers in theory but has only rarely if ever implemented them in modern times.
During the referendum campaign in 2016, there was public uproar over a front-page headline in The Sun newspaper saying: “Queen Backs Brexit.”
Citing an anonymous source, the best-selling tabloid reported that the queen told the then deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, a fervent pro-European, during a lunch in 2011 that the EU was “heading in the wrong direction.”
The paper also claimed she had told lawmakers “with quite some venom and emotion” that “she did not understand Europe.”
The article sparked a rare complaint from Buckingham Palace and Britain’s press regulator late ruled that the headline was “significantly misleading.”
An article in The Daily Beast before the referendum also said she had asked dinner companions to give her “three good reasons” why Britain should stay in the EU.
Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Prince William, who is second in line to the throne, made waves of his own during the referendum campaign.
In a speech to British diplomats, he said Britain’s ability to work with other nations was the “bedrock of our security and prosperity.”
The remarks prompted speculation that he was endorsing Britain’s continued membership of the EU.
His brother Prince Harry might not quite agree, at least according to his father-in-law.
Speaking after Harry’s fairytale wedding to former TV actress Meghan Markle last year, her father Thomas Markle told ITV television that the prince had told him he was “open to the experiment” of Brexit.
The queen prompted more light-hearted speculation when she attended the opening of parliament in 2017 with a blue hat that prompted comparisons with the EU flag.
“Clearly the EU still inspires some in the UK,” tweeted Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit spokesman, while opposition Labour MP Paul Flynn jokingly referred to it as an “anti-Brexit hat.”
A year later, US President Donald Trump reignited the debate on the queen’s private views, saying that he had discussed Brexit with her during an audience.
He told the Mail on Sunday: “She said it’s a very — and she’s right — it’s a very complex problem.”
Queen calls for ‘common ground’ as Brexit divides Britain
Queen calls for ‘common ground’ as Brexit divides Britain
- With the clock ticking down to March 29, the date set in law for Brexit, the UK is in the deepest political crisis in half a century
- "I for one prefer the tried and tested recipes, like speaking well of each other and respecting different points of view; coming together to seek out the common ground," the Queen said
Hundreds in London protest against Beijing ‘mega embassy’
- Protesters, their faces mostly covered with scarves or masks, chanted “No to Chinese embassy“
- The latest protest came ahead of an expected decision this week
LONDON: Hundreds of people on Saturday rallied in London against Beijing’s controversial new “mega” embassy, days ahead of a decision on the plan.
Protesters, their faces mostly covered with scarves or masks, chanted “No to Chinese embassy” and waved flags reading “Free Hong Kong. Revolution now.”
Others held up placards with slogans such as “MI5 warned. Labour kneeled,” referring to the UK’s domestic intelligence agency and Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ruling party.
Others read: “CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is watching you. Stop the mega embassy.”
China has for several years been trying to relocate its embassy, currently in the British capital’s upmarket Marylebone district, to the sprawling historic site in the shadow of the Tower of London.
The move has sparked fierce opposition from nearby residents, rights groups and critics of China’s ruling Communist Party.
The latest protest came ahead of an expected decision this week.
Benedict Rogers, head of the human rights group Hong Kong Watch said if it got the go-ahead it was “highly likely” that the site “will be used for espionage,” citing the sensitive underground communications cables close to the site.
He said China had already been “carrying out a campaign of transnational repression against different diaspora communities” and other critics and predicted that that would “increase and intensify.”
Beijing ‘operations base’ -
A protester who gave his name only as Brandon, for fear of reprisals, said the plans raised a “lot of concerns.”
The 23-year-old bank employee, originally from Hong Kong but now living near Manchester in northwestern England, said many Hong Kongers had moved to the UK “to avoid authoritarian rule in China.”
But they now found there could be an embassy in London serving as an “operations base” for Beijing.
“I don’t think it’s good for anyone except the Chinese government,” he said.
Another demonstrator, who did not to give her name, called on Starmer to “step back and stop it (the plan) because there is a high risk to the national security of the UK, not only Hong Kongers.”
The 60-year-old warehouse worker, also originally from Hong Kong and now living in Manchester, said the embassy would be a “spy center not only to watch the UK but the whole of Europe.”
Speakers at the rally throwing their weight behind the campaign to stop the embassy included Kemi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party.
British MPs voiced major security concerns earlier this week after a leading daily reported the site would house 208 secret rooms, including a “hidden chamber.”
The Daily Telegraph said it had obtained unredacted plans for the vast new building which would stand on the historical site of the former Royal Mint.
It showed that Beijing reportedly plans to construct a single “concealed chamber” among “secret rooms” underneath the embassy which would be placed alongside the underground communications cables.
