June 15, 2002
Ms Sumner’s own memo of her Easter Day call to Black Rod, sent to the PCC on May 20, points up the possibility of confusion. “I told [him] that the guidance I had was that the prime minister and the Leader of the Opposition met the coffin. [He] said that his guidance did not say that and that it was the Speaker and the lord chancellor who met the coffin. I said my guidance included them, too,” she wrote.[01:57 AM]Whereas Sir Michael allegedly became convinced that No 10 was trying to upgrade the Blair role, Ms Sumner recalls: “I said, and I remember this very clearly, ‘You are Black Rod, you are arranging it, just let me know what you want the prime minister to do so I can arrange it.’ I thought no more of it.”
I think they're trying to accuse Tony Blair of using the Queen Mum's funeral as a photo op. It seems pretty strained to me. And... "Black Rod"? He sounds like an Austin Powers character.
Organizing state funerals is one of the duties of the College of Arms; and since the deceased was the daughter of the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, their Scottish counterparts were likely involved as well.
I promise you, "Black Rod" will not have been the weirdest job title associated with the proceedings. I doubt it even made the top ten.
As you know, Bob, Black Rod is so-called because at the State Opening of Parliament he goes from the House of Lords to summon the House of Commons. The Commons shut the door in his face (as they did when Charles I tried to arrest them), and so he hits the door with, um, a black rod. What could be more logical?
And yes, I'm sure there are odder titles. Just glancing at http://www.burkes-peerage.net/sites/scotland/sitepages/page31c.asp , I notice a Unicorn Pursuivant, a Swan Warden, and a couple of Gold Sticks.
Incomprehensible is right; it's well-nigh impossible that Claire Sumner would have been doing the sort of spin that the press has accused her of; because she is a civil servant. And not a press officer, or information officer or anything where presentation is part of the business, either. She's a private secretary. Her job is to facilitate business for the PM, in really a rather boring and ordinary way, and it beggars belief that anyone thinks there's any story in this at all. Think "bag carrier".
It appears that the entire thing boils down to "Claire Sumner was working off a piece of Cabinet Office guidance from 1994. The guidance had been updated, but she didn't know, and confusion ensued when Black Rod explained the more recent guidance."
What's really weird about this sort of stuff is that the Government isn't managing to close off stories like this quickly as soon as they arise. I don't understand why that is. I also don't like the tendency for relatively junior career civil servants (who, as you know Bob, are not political appointees here) to have their names and conduct dragged through the papers.
Oh, yes, and did I mention that I found out on Friday that I've been promoted and, in an almost entirely related incident, am considering changing the name I use socially, in fandom, and (especially) online?
What's to be surprised at? The royal family is--and always has been--the guardian of the landed aristocracy. The landed aristocracy aren't too cool with a Labour government--even a fangs-drawn "New Labour" government.
Someone in their entourage sees an opportunity to take New Labour down a peg...
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But don't go away. I've got just a couple of questions about about the Eighteenth Brumaire. And I know that Chris Bertram guy had a question, too...
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