Jeremy Corbyn was under intense pressure last night after his peace movement published a “disgraceful” diatribe against the Queen.
A poem on the front page of the Stop the War Coalition website alleges that the Queen has a “criminal record” and is “lubricating Britain’s wars”, while the Royal family are arms dealers and “friends to despots and dictators”.
A poem on the front page of the Stop the War Coalition website alleges that the Queen has a “criminal record” and is “lubricating Britain’s wars”, while the Royal family are arms dealers and “friends to despots and dictators”.
At midday on Saturday, the Telegraph asked Mr Corbyn’s office to comment on the article.
Almost five hours later, Labour announced that he was standing down as chairman of the Stop the War Coalition after four years in charge.
However, in a gesture of defiance to his critics, he sent the group a message of support, saying it represented “the very best in British political campaigning” and promised that its cause “will remain my cause”.
Mr Corbyn’s office repeatedly refused to criticise the poem, claiming that the Labour leader had not seen it and so could not comment.
His refusal to condemn the tirade provoked outrage from his own shadow ministers, who said they were “appalled” by the sentiments it expressed.
Kevan Jones, the shadow defence minister, said: “This slur on the Queen will be highly offensive to members of our Armed Forces and many ordinary Labour voters. I am sure these are not the views of Jeremy Corbyn but it is time he distanced himself from some of the more extreme elements of the anti-war coalition.”
Sir Gerald Howarth, the former Tory defence minister, said: “He should be ashamed to be associated with an organisation which is so disrespectful to the monarch.”
The poem by Heathcote Williams was published in his work Royal Babylon: the Criminal Record of the British Monarchy. Titled God save the Queen: long may she reign as she and her family lubricate Britain’s wars, it goes on to criticise support for the monarchy saying: “The country survives despite its own past not because of it/ And its infantile wish for a benign parent above politics/ Persuades it to ignore unpleasant facts, such as the sovereign’s endorsing/ The very nastiest political act of all, namely killing.”
It goes on to describe the sovereign’s dominant role being to inspect “row after row” of soldiers who have been “broken down”, “reconfigured” and “programmed to kill on command”.
It continues: “The sovereign is crucial to the lubrication of Britain’s wars/ By its gulling soldiers into dutifully dying;/ Then, after paying homage to such victims of state carnage,/ By its encouraging arms-trade profiteering.”
The poem says the Queen was “groomed” to join “the UK’s military-monarchy-complex”, while the Duke of Cambridge is also being prepared to succeed her in this role.