Palace denies Queen backs Brexit after claims she criticised EU

The Sun newspaper today suggested the Queen backed 'Brexit'
AFP

Cabinet minister Michael Gove was today at the centre of a furious storm over the leaking of a private conversation with the Queen which sparked claims that she is a “Brexiter”.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood was urged to probe who revealed a version of an exchange between Her Majesty and the then Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

The Queen is said to have told Mr Clegg that the EU was heading in the wrong direction and to have left ministers at the lunch at Windsor Castle in 2011 in no doubt about her views on the union.

Mr Gove, who was Education Secretary, Mr Clegg, Cheryl Gillan, the then Welsh Secretary, and Lord McNally, who was justice minister, attended a council at 12.40pm at Windor Castle on April 7, 2011, according to the court circular.

There is no evidence to suggest who leaked details of the conversation with the Queen or proof that the account published in today’s Sun newspaper is accurate.

However, many MPs are likely to see Mr Gove as the most likely suspect given that he is one of the leading Out campaigners.

Labour this morning asked the Cabinet Secretary to investigate the matter.

A party source said: “Labour is writing to the Cabinet Secretary to ask him to urgently investigate the serious matter of how alleged conversations between the Queen and Ministers at a private meeting were leaked to the press.”

Former Liberal Democrat leader Mr Clegg dismissed the Sun story as “nonsense”, adding: “I’ve no recollection of this happening & it’s not the sort of thing I would forget.”

A spokesman added: “This is categorically untrue.”

However, BBC broadcaster and historian Andrew Marr gave some credibility to the idea that the Queen could favour Brexit.

Retweeting the frontpage of The Sun with the headline “Queen Backs Brexit,” he said: “This might be true.”

None of the three other ministers at the council on April 7 could be contacted.

Buckingham Palace insisted the Queen is “politically neutral” in the EU referendum campaign.

A Palace spokesman added: “We will not comment on spurious, anonymously sourced claims. The referendum is a matter for the British people to decide.”

In June last year, a speech by the Queen in Germany was interpreted by some as expressing a pro-EU view.

During a state banquet in Berlin in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister David Cameron, the Queen said “division in Europe is dangerous” and that the continent must strive to “maintain the benefits of the post-war world”.

Buckingham Palace said then that the speech, on the eve of a Brussels summit, was not intended to make any political point about the future of the union.

A speech last month by the Duke of Cambridge was interpreted by some as a tacit call for the UK to remain in the EU.

In an address to Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) staff, William said the nation’s ability to “unite in common action” with other countries was essential in a “turbulent world”, and was the “bedrock of our security and prosperity”.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said at the time about the speech: “This was not about Europe.”

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