British tabloid says Queen wants UK to leave EU

Britain’s top-selling tabloid has said the Queen wants the UK to leave the EU, in a report denied by her office and by the man to whom she’s said to have spoken.

The Sun published its story in a front page splash on Wednesday (9 March) entitled “Queen backs Brexit.”

It said she made pro-Brexit remarks on two occasions: at a lunch in Windsor Castle with the then deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and at a reception with MPs in Buckingham Palace.

She reportedly told Clegg the EU was “heading in the wrong direction” in remarks which The Sun described as a “passionate” and “stinging reprimand” which went on for “quite a while” and which left her lunch guests “stunned.”

She reportedly told MPs on the second occasion: “I don’t understand Europe”. The Sun said the 89-year old woman “snapped angirly” and spoke with “venom and emotion.”

“We would … not be taking the big step in reporting them [her comments] if they had not come from two different and impeccably placed sources,” The Sun said.

Reacting to the story, the Buckingham Palace press office said: “The Queen remains politically neutral as she has for 63 years … The referendum is a matter for the British people to decide.”

Clegg said on Twitter: “I told the [Sun] journalist this is nonsense. I've no recollection of this happening and it’s not the sort of thing I would forget.”

But The Sun said their choice of words meant that “neither expressly denied” the factuality of its report.

The Sun is the UK’s top selling newspaper. Its average circulation in March last year was 1.9 million, according to UK media monitor the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC). But it’s readership fell by 10 percent after it stopped printing pictures of topless models.

The UK’s second biggest selling paper, The Daily Mail, on 1.6 million, is also strongly eurosceptic.

Their numbers are much higher than those of leading broadsheets The Daily Telegraph (480,000), The Times (390,000), the Financial Times (213,000) and The Guardian (170,000).

The Telegraph is also eurosceptic. The Times, like The Sun, is owned by Australian tycoon Rupert Murdoch who has made his pro-Brexit views clear on Twitter. He described the UK leader David Cameron’s recent deal on EU reforms as “a nothing”, adding “How can sensible cabinet colleagues accept this?”.

The Queen’s influence on public opinion is difficult to measure.

But her traditional Christmas Day speech last year attracted 7.5 million TV viewers, beating popular shows such as Downtown Abbey and Strictly Come Dancing.

The UK referendum on EU membership is to take place on 23 June.

The Sun noted that she is due to make a big speech in mid-June on the official celebration of her 90th birthday.

“Fears are also growing the Queen will come under heavy pressure from No10 to make a pro-EU intervention … just days before the nationwide vote,” The Sun said.

The Sun story was welcomed by anti-EU British MPs including Jacob Rees Mogg and Steve Baker. Rees Mogg told The Sun that “she is there to protect us from European encroachment.” Baker said “This is a happy day.”

A survey conducted by leading British pollster YouGov in the first few days of March, following Cameron’s EU reform deal in late February, said 40 percent of people want to stay in the EU, 37 percent want to leave, 18 percent don’t know, and 5 percent don’t care.