‘Grumpy’ Queen DID have a go at me over the EU, former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg finally claims
The former Liberal Democrat leader has told friends that Her Majesty attacked the 28 country union during a lunch with him
THE "grumpy" Queen did have a go at Nick Clegg over the EU, the former Lib Dem leader has finally admitted.
The ex-Deputy PM has told friends Her Majesty attacked the 28 country union during a lunch with him.
She accused the rise of Brussels for downgrading the role of the Commonwealth, which she leads.
Mr Clegg previously denied any dust up with the 90-year-old monarch when The Sun first broke the bombshell story that revealed her strong Euroscepticism.
With the nine month-long row still raging over whether the Queen does back Brexit, the magazine reported: "Nick Clegg, who was also at the infamous 2011 Windsor Castle lunch, maintains that Her Majesty was merely grumpy about Europe and regretted the eclipse of the Commonwealth".
Recalling the row is the third different position Mr Clegg has taken over the controversy.
The Lib Dems’ EU spokesman refused to deny the story when initially approached by The Sun in March last year before we broke the story during the EU referendum campaign.
Instead he said he had "no recollection" of the conversation, adding: "No doubt you’ll speak to someone else and they’ll say, ‘I was there I heard it’. Fine."
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But after conferring with David Cameron’s furious spin doctors in No10 over night, Mr Clegg changed his tune to describe the story as "nonsense", "not true" and "A-grade, 24-carat bilge".
Friends of Mr Clegg last night insisted he didn’t call the Queen ‘grumpy’, but his spokeswoman refused to make any comment.
In his book on the EU referendum campaign, former No10 Communications Director Sir Craig Oliver branded Mr Clegg’s response to the story "a car crash".
The BBC’s Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg backed up The Sun’s original story last month by revealing a senior political contact had told her the Queen said she thinks "we should leave the EU" during a private lunch.
Ms Kuenssberg told the Today programme: "Apparently she said, ‘I don’t see why we can’t just get out’".
Buckingham Palace lodged a formal complaint to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) over The Sun’s headline as well as the story.
IPSO found the headline breached Clause 1 (accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice, but they threw out the palace’s complaint about the story’s accuracy.