PM hails Duke who ‘made this country a better place’
He leads way as Commons returns early to honour Prince Philip
BORIS Johnson voiced the ‘ heartfelt thanks of the nation’ for Philip’s life of service, as MPs and peers paid emotional tributes in Parliament yesterday.
The Prime Minister said the Duke of Edinburgh had ‘made this country a better place’ and vowed a national memorial will be built in his honour.
The Commons was recalled from its Easter recess a day early for the special session, which began with a minute’s silent reflection.
But the mood quickly lightened as MPs shared anecdotes about the duke’s quick wit and disregard for diplomatic niceties.
Lord Fowler, the Lord Speaker, also declared that the nation and the Commonwealth ‘has lost one of its greatest figures’.
Politicians gathered at devolved parliaments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast to remember him. In the Commons, Mr Johnson said that Philip had touched the lives of millions through his achievements including the Duke of Edinburgh’s award.
He recalled with affection how the prince ‘occasionally drove a coach and horses through the finer points of diplomatic protocol’.
‘Amongst his more parliamentary expressions, he commented
adversely on the French concept of breakfast,’ the PM said.‘He told a British student in Papua New Guinea he was lucky not to be eaten, and the people of the Cayman Islands that they were descended from pirates, and that he would like to go to Russia except that, as he put it, “the bastards murdered half my family”.
‘But, Mr Speaker, the world did not hold it against him. On the contrary they overwhelmingly understood that he was trying to break the ice, to get things moving, to get people laughing, and to forget their nerves.’
Mr Johnson concluded: ‘Though I suspect he might be embarrassed or even faintly exasperated to receive these tributes, he made this country a better place and for that he will be remembered with gratitude and with fondness for generations to come.’
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay
‘I’m not sure if it was a test’
Hoyle described the Duke of Edinburgh as the ‘father of the nation’.
Recalling his experience of the DofE award, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘My final activity was wandering around Dartmoor in a small team, with a compass and a map in the pouring rain, frantically trying to find our way – if that doesn’t prepare you for coming into politics, nothing will.’
Theresa May remembered a stay at Balmoral. The former prime minister said: ‘My husband and I, as everybody knows, enjoy walking.
‘Prince Philip very kindly suggested a particular walk. When we got back to the castle several hours later, we were told that Prince Philip did indeed enjoy this walk but he normally drove round it in a car.
‘I’m not sure if it was a test and, if it was, if we passed it.’