Key events
Zarah Sultana sets sights on replacing Labour and gaining power – as she calls for abolition of monarchy
The MP Zarah Sultana has said she hopes her new political party will ultimately replace Labour as she revealed she was committed to winning power, Jamie Grierson reports.
Sultana has also been tweeting about the monarchy, saying it should be abolished.
Prince Andrew’s titles have been removed.
Good start — now let’s do the rest of them and abolish the monarchy.
Duke of York removed from roll of peerage
Andrew’s name no longer appears on the official roll of the peerage, marking a key step in formally removing his titles, PA Media reports. Dukes are listed on the roll of the peerage maintained at the Crown Office, but the Duke of York is now longer there.
Rachael Maskell, the independent MP (suspended by Labour over welfare rebellions), recently introduced a private member’s bill into the Commons, the removal of titles bill, that would allow the king to remove titles from peers, or anyone else with a title, either on his own initiative, or following a request from a parliamentary committee. But no time has been set aside for the bill to be debated, and so it has no chance of becoming law.
In an interview on the Today programme this morning, Maskell said that, even though Andrew was losing his titles, her bill was still needed.
We know that peers, for instance, have ended up in jail, so I think we need to look at the whole system.
My bill would have enabled people with all forms of peerages, baronets and dukes and princes and princesses, to have those titles removed, a mechanism which could be carried forward, not for just one circumstance, but all circumstances.
Good morning. When David Lammy was appointed justice secretary, and lord chancellor, he probably never expected that removing Prince Andrew’s titles would end up as one of his jobs. But that is where is is today, as a consequence of the remarkable announcement from Buckingham Palace last night.
Andrew is going to be stripped of his Prince and Duke of York titles and HRH style, as well as the subsidiary titles of Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh, PA Media reports. Many titles can be removed under the royal prerogative on ministerial advice and dukes, including the Duke of York, are listed on the roll of the peerage maintained at the Crown Office. As lord chancellor, Lammy is responsible for maintaining the peerage roll and he is going to receive a warrant from the king telling him to strike the duke from the roll.
Judging by what other ministers and MPs have been saying about the decision, Lammy will perform the task with some relish. This is what other politicians have been saying about the move since it was announced last night.
Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, was on Question Time when the recording was halted so that the panel could be told about Andrew. She said:
I really support the step that [the king] taken. I think (it’s) a very powerful message to the victims of grooming and sex offences. I used to work with children who’d been abused before I came into Parliament, including many of the girls who’d been horrifically abused by grooming gangs …
This is a really brave, important and right step by the king, and I fully support it.
Chris Bryant, the trade minister, told the BBC this morning:
We warmly, I warmly support what the king is doing today. I think the vast majority of people in this country will think that it’s the right thing to do.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, was doing an LBC phone-in last night and she said this was “a very sad state of affairs” for the king. She explained:
I think that the king has clearly felt that this is the right decision for the royal family. It must have been a very difficult thing for him to have done. I mean, having to do that to your own brother.
But the standards and expectations in society now are very high. People expect to see the very highest levels of integrity. And I’m afraid the whole Jeffrey Epstein saga and everyone it has touched, from Prince Andrew to Peter Mandelson, has just shown that the public has no truck whatsoever with any kind of sexual abuse, sexual offences, especially of minors. And I think that that’s quite right.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said:
The king is absolutely right to strip Prince Andrew of both his titles and his residence at the Royal Lodge.
It’s clear that Andrew’s position had become totally untenable, having disgraced his office and embarrassed the country.
We will get a lobby briefing later today, and so we may get an update on the government line, although Keir Starmer is probably just relieved that King Charles has acted decisively in a way likely to satisify the public that Andrew has been propely punished. Starmer showed no enthusiasm for government involvement in this. Some MPs are still pushing for further action against Andrew, or for a general overhaul of the way titles are awarded, but these seem to be minority arguments.
The Commons is not sitting today, but there is other politics around. The Rachel Reeves rental licence story is finally winding up, and in the Lords peers are debating Ukraine. I will pick up on these stories later.
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