Why is parliament still banning itself from talking about the monarchy?
With Boris Johnson reeling, the House of Commons was a stormy place at prime minister’s questions last Wednesday. The impact on the prime minister’s fate was minutely scrutinised. As a result, a separate exchange during that session has had less attention than it deserves In one of his questions, Keir Starmer began talking about the contrast, widely highlighted in the media beforehand, between the Queen sitting alone, obeying Covid rules at her husband’s funeral, and staff at No 10 ignoring the rules while partying with colleagues the previous evening. You might think this was a reasonable point for a parliamentarian to make. But no. For at this point the Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle intervened and told MPs: “We normally would not, and quite rightly, mention the royal family. We do not get into discussions on the royal family.” Reprimanded, Starmer moved on to his next question. Why did the Speaker do this? Why do “we” – the House of Commons – normally not mention the royal famil...