Veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner refuses to attend the Queen’s Speech after muttering ‘I’m not going’ when MPs were asked to attend the House of Lords
Veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner refused to attend the Queen’s Speech today, muttering ‘I’m not going’ when MPs were asked to attend the House of Lords.
The 87-year-old politician prompted laughter from both sides of the House of Commons after Black Rod requested MPs’ attendance to hear the Queen’s Speech.
The Derbyshire-born politician, who is nicknamed the ‘Beast of Bolsover’, remained behind in the Commons chamber as other MPs filed out towards the Lords.
Labour MP Dennis Skinner pictured in the House of Commons in a file picture from April 2016
Mr Skinner is known for making quips during the State Opening of Parliament and it has become part of the pomp and circumstance of the event.
In 1992, following calls for Her Majesty to pay income tax, he shouted: ‘Tell her to pay her tax!’ In 2006, he joked: ‘Have you got Helen Mirren on standby?’.
The former coal miner, who has been a Labour MP since 1970, has gone through bowel cancer, a heart bypass and a hip replacement.