I keep forgetting that Keir Starmer announced his resignation as Britain’s prime minister, and he did so just before the tenth anniversary of the Brexit vote. Originally, many believed that Starmer would stagger his way through the summer before the next Labour PM came in, but it’s looking like Andy Burnham will probably be installed in Downing Street by the end of the month. Burnham will be the seventh prime minister in a decade, which is pretty crazy. Well, now the royalists in Britain are freaking out because one of Andy Burnham’s key advisors believes that Britain needs to “brexit” from the Windsors.
One of Andy Burnham’s key advisers said the Royal Family ought to be scaled back and should return some of their wealth. MP Miatta Fahnbulleh said the monarchy’s fortune “belongs to us”.
She argued the royals should be financially independent, suggesting an end to the taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant which supports official duties.
Ms Fahnbulleh said in 2020: “I think the monarchy needs to be reformed. For me, that means constitutional reform — so we’re no longer a nation of subjects but a nation of citizens — through to [scaling it down] so there are less royals. And the fact we have this very wealthy family that should be financially independent. Wealth they have accumulated through centuries, they should be giving some back to the public because in the end it belongs to us.”
She made the comments on BBC show Question Time when she was chief of think-tank New Economics Foundation. She is now the MP for Peckham in South East London.
Mr Burnham may become PM in two weeks.
Alex Burghart, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: “The King of the North and his team already have their sights set on our actual King. Labour is about to hold its own coronation — and the man taking the crown is putting the future of the monarchy in doubt.”
What’s really funny is that Fahnbulleh’s statements are pretty mundane and measured? She’s not calling for the guillotine or anything. She’s not even saying that the monarchy should be abolished, she just wants to see it streamlined. She’s right about the Sovereign Grant too, which will balloon to £99.9 million next year, with even fewer working royals doing significantly less work than a decade ago. It’s even funnier because she said all of this in 2020, when QEII was still alive and the monarchy was still somewhat popular (although still in decline). Anyway, does anyone think that Burnham is going to come into Downing Street and immediately push around the Windsors? Probably not.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
