Queen’s Speech

Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury Excerpts

Tuesday 10th May 2022 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury]

That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty as follows: “Most Gracious Sovereign—We, Your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, beg leave to thank Your Majesty for the most gracious Speech which was addressed to both Houses of Parliament”.

[Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury (Con)]

My Lords, it is a privilege—and in this year of all years, the year of the Platinum Jubilee, it is a great privilege—to move this Motion for an humble Address on behalf of your Lordships’ House. Although Her Majesty was not present to deliver the Speech in person, it gives us the opportunity in this House to thank Her Majesty for seven decades of steadfast and dedicated service to all parts of the United Kingdom and to the Commonwealth. Throughout a period of huge change, and with all its ups and downs, the Queen has been, and remains, a rock of stability in our nation.

My noble friend Lady Jenkin of Kennington, along with many other noble Baronesses, has long encouraged and campaigned for more women to enter Parliament and enter public life. It is worth reminding ourselves that, during the last 185 years, there has been a woman on the Throne for 133 of them. The monarchy has done more on this than any other institution.

We are also grateful to Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke of Cambridge for their presence today. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has carved out for himself a substantial role as Prince of Wales without parallel in our history, and is deeply committed, hard-working and on so many issues ahead of the times. It is these qualities which, through the Prince’s Trust and other ventures, have changed the lives of thousands of young people from all backgrounds, and we thank him for it.

At the end of the last Session, we had to endure many late nights and multiple voting in order to clear the decks so we could get here today, but we did it. I therefore hope the House will not think it controversial if I fleetingly thank my noble friends the Leader of the House and the Government Chief Whip for steering us here successfully. Of course, I also acknowledge the important role of the usual channels.

Her Majesty delivered her first Speech from the Throne in November 1952. Today’s Speech carries many echoes of that Speech of 70 years ago. In 1952, the gracious Speech spoke about the need to maintain economic stability and to place the national economy on a sound foundation and it emphasised the need for

“measures to curb inflation and to reduce the heavy load of Government expenditure.”

Some things never change. In 1952, the Motion for an humble Address was moved by the noble Lord Mancroft, the father of my noble friend. His observations of 70 years ago may strike a chord today, especially on the Benches opposite. He lamented the fact that

“we have been … over-legislated in this country. We have been glutted, filled, stuffed and stifled with legislation, most of it incompletely conceived and most of it … ill-digested.”—[Official Report, 4/11/1952; cols. 4-9.]

I think those words might find an echo on the Benches opposite.

Inflation was then, as it is now, rearing its ugly head—today triggered by the worldwide soaring price of energy, which is hitting millions of household budgets. This rather puts me in mind of Mrs Thatcher, who always saw the running of the national economy as akin to running a household. One bitterly cold December evening, she had invited newly elected MPs to Chequers, one of whom was Michael Portillo, who had just been put on the committee looking at the privatisation of the gas industry. As Mrs Thatcher worked the room, she asked Michael what was most preoccupying him at the moment, to which he said, “The gas Bill”, to which she replied, “Don’t I know? Chequers costs a fortune to heat.”

When I worked for Mrs Thatcher in Downing Street as political secretary, my responsibilities included her political speeches and, of course, the party conference speech. One year, the Liberal Democrats, through sheer bad timing, launched their new logo of a soaring dove just as their poll ratings had started to nosedive. So, it was put to Mrs Thatcher that she should include in her conference speech the dead parrot sketch from “Monty Python”. She had never seen the sketch; she had never heard of John Cleese. Nevertheless, after much persuasion but with considerable nervousness, she agreed to include it. However, just minutes before she was due to deliver the speech, she said, “I am still worried about the dead parrot sketch.” Someone said, “Don’t worry, Prime Minister, it’ll be fine. Everybody knows it word for word.” “No, no”, she said, “it’s not that. This Monty Python—is he one of us?” To which there was only one reply: “Prime Minister, he’s one of your strongest supporters.”

This coming 12 months will be a year of difficulty and hardship for many households, with challenges that would test a Government of any colour. Of course, the day-to-day thrust of political debate must and will go on—it is an essential part of our democracy—but our fellow citizens will be looking to our political leaders for something much more. They will be looking for practical and effective help to ease and improve the daily lives of individuals, families and businesses. That is why I welcome so many of the proposals in today’s gracious Speech: measures to enhance the security of energy supplies and so help to ease energy bills, reform of planning laws, support for the police, and preventing dangerous and illegal channel crossings. I also welcome the increased investment in the National Health Service and the much-needed support for mental health services.

Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is being invested in our public services. As important as any is the investment in defence—the defence needed to support the NATO alliance and keep our nation safe. People sometimes ask, “Can we afford to spend so much on defence?” Events in Ukraine have shown all too graphically that we cannot afford not to. The unprovoked attack on Ukraine and the further land grab by Putin, redolent of Hitler, show that we can never be complacent about threats to national security. How often have we made that mistake before? The First World War was supposed to be the war to end all wars: not so, as we saw in the 1930s. Then there was the new world order that was supposed to follow the collapse of the Communist world. Yet today, again we see in Europe brutal and unprovoked aggression. We should be proud of the leadership the United Kingdom has shown in supporting the courageous people of Ukraine, and proud of the cross-party support this commands. I hope and believe that the Government will strain every sinew to expedite the safe admission of refugees from Ukraine.

As we look around the world today, what do we see in so many places? Conflict and war, famine, ethnic cleansing, dictatorship, autocracy, the suppression of democracy and free speech, the denial of freedom under the law. In this year, the year of the Platinum Jubilee, all this should make us pause and reflect, not in a self-congratulatory way but to remind ourselves: are we not blessed to live in this country? It is in this spirit that I beg to move the Motion for an humble Address to Her Majesty.