Queen ‘one of the greatest leaders world has ever known’, says Liz Truss in Commons tribute

PM hails longest-reigning monarch as ‘champion of freedom and democracy’ around the world

Queen Elizabeth II was “one of the greatest leaders the world has even known”, said Liz Truss as the new prime minister led tributes to the late sovereign in the Commons.

Ms Truss hailed the longest-reigning monarch’s life of service and described her as “a champion of freedom and democracy around the world”.

The prime minister said the nation had witnessed “the most heartfelt outpouring of grief” since news of the Queen’s death on Thursday, saying life had “paused” to mourn her passing.

“Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known. The United Kingdom is the great country it is today because of her,” she said.

Praising her “sheer humanity”, Ms Truss said: “She re-invented the monarchy for the modern age. She was a champion of freedom and democracy around the world. She was willing to have fun – whether on a mission with 007 or having tea with Paddington Bear.”

Ms Truss revealed that the Queen shared her “deep experience of government” when the two met at Balmoral this week. “She remained determined to carry out her duties even at the age of 96 … even in those last days.”

Referring to a new “Carolean age” as she closed her speech, the PM said Charles “has already made a profound contribution through his work on conservation, education, and his tireless diplomacy – we owe him our loyalty and devotion”.

MPs dressed in black rose for a minutes silence from 12 noon on Friday, before Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle hailed the “magnificence in which she undertook the role of Queen”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to Elizabeth II as “this great country’s greatest monarch” who had unified the nation in times of turbulence. “The loss of our Queen robs this country of its stillest point, its greatest comfort, at precisely the time we need those things most.”

He added: “The late Queen would want us to redouble our efforts, to turn our collar up and face the storm. To carry on. Most of all, she would want us to remember that it is these moments that we must all pull together.”

Sir Keir called on the country to remember “one of the great lessons of our Queen’s reign – that we are always better when we rise above the petty, the trivial, the day-to-day, to focus on the things that really matter, the things that unite us, rather than those which divide us”.

It was now time to take forward the Queen’s legacy, he said, “to show the same love of country, the love of one another, as she did. To show empathy and compassion, as she did, and to get Britain through this dark night and bring it into the dawn, as she did.”

Former Tory MP Boris Johnson revealed that he had been “moved to tears” during a special interview about the Queen after the BBC film crew requested that he talk about her in the past tense.

“I’m afraid I simply choked up and I couldn’t go on. I’m really not easily moved to tears, but I was so overcome with sadness, that I had to ask them to go away,” Mr Johnson said.

Recalling his meetings with the Queen, he said: “I can tell you, in that audience, she was as radiant and as knowledgeable and as fascinated by politics as ever I can remember and as wise in her advice as anyone I know, if not wiser.”

Theresa May said the Queen “was quite simply the most remarkable person I ever met”, telling MPs that she had a remarkable ability to command “love and respect” from world leaders.

The former Tory prime minister described her as “a woman of dignity and grace, of compassion and warmth, of mischief and joy, of wisdom and experience, and of a deep understanding of her people”.

Ms May also recalled a picnic with the Queen at Balmoral at which the then-PM dropped some cheese on the floor, before quietly putting it back on a plate. “I looked at her, she looked at me, and she just smiled. And the cheese remained on the table.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said she was “our nation’s constant” who embodied love of country. She showed that “patriotism is not defined by political allegiance”, he said.

Sir Ed recalled lunch with the Queen at Windsor Castle during her Golden Jubilee – wondering what was inside a silver cylinder next to her. “The Queen lifted up the lid of the cylinder, lifted out some digestive biscuits and began sneaking him to her grateful dogs.”

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford paid tribute to the Queen as “a steady hand guiding the ship and the perpetual symbol of stability”, saying the whole nation was grieving for “one of the true constants in our lives”.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the Queen had been a “bridge-builder”. Describing her state visit to the Republic of Ireland in 2011 as a “cathartic moment” in British-Irish relations, he said she was “a monarch who stood with us in our time of trouble”.

Labour MP Harriet Harman – who has the title Mother of the House as the longest-serving female MP – said that she marvelled at the monarch’s ability to “make her way as a woman in a man’s world”.

Ed Miliband told MPs how the Queen raised an eyebrow at his efforts to reduce energy use as climate change secretary in 2008.

The former Labour leader recalled that he attended a meeting of the Privy Council, which involved the sovereign reading out a list of the laws that were being passed.

“As she did so, she paused for a moment because she was having trouble reading, and said: ‘It’s these new long-life lightbulbs that we’ve introduced,” said Mr Miliband, to laughter from MPs.

“And she fixed me with a beady gaze and a twinkle in her eye, and I smiled. That was the sense of humour that she showed.”

Mr Miliband, now shadow climate change secretary, paid tribute to King Charles as “an extraordinary warrior on the issue of the environment long before it was fashionable”.

Earlier on Friday, Ms Truss and her ministers also held a minute’s silence at a special cabinet in Downing Street this morning where senior ministers shared memories of the Queen.

The nation’s new monarch King Charles III has begun his poignant journey from Balmoral to London, following the death of his mother the Queen. He is due to make a televised address to the nation at 6pm.