Three former Prime Ministers give their thoughts on the special constitutional relationship between Her Majesty The Queen and her first Minister.
Read the transcript for the film below:
Narrator
Britain is a constitutional monarchy, so the relationship between the queen, who is head of state, and the prime minister, who is head of government, is an important one. It’s the queen who dissolves Parliament when an election is called and the queen who invites a prime minister to form a government. Every week the prime minister has an audience with the queen. The PM makes the short trip from Downing Street to Buckingham Palace to be received by the monarch. Tony Blair distinctly recalls his first ever audience.
Tony Blair
She said to me that the first prime minister she dealt with was Winston Churchill. That put me in perspective, as it were. But then there are times, sometimes, when I will ask her about what it was like in previous times with previous prime ministers, and, of course, she’s got such a huge fund of stories and history to draw upon.
Sir John Major
I went to see the queen. I saw her privately. Prime ministers always see the queen absolutely privately. No one else is there, other, of course, than the corgis. If they had ever been bugged, the Russians would have known all our secrets.
Tony Blair
You just understand this person has lived through this chapter of our history and seen all these changing times, and the accumulated amount of experience and knowledge is immense and actually very valuable for whoever is prime minister.
Narrator
Winston Churchill was the current queen’s first prime minister when she ascended to the throne during his second administration in 1952. Since then, nine further prime ministers have served in her reign. Today, she has her weekly audience with a man born in the year she was crowned. This is a unique glimpse of a normally totally confidential meeting. Most on the prime minister’s mind, talks with Eastern European countries, which haven’t been going smoothly.
The Queen
Evening, Prime Minister.
Tony Blair
Evening, ma’am.
The Queen
Been another very busy day?
Tony Blair
Yes, it has been. ‘Cause we were preparing for the European Council.
The Queen
Of course. That’s Thursday, isn’t it?
Tony Blair
Yes, Thursday, Friday. And I think after that is an added bonus, ma’am.
The Queen
Well, I suppose it is, yes.
Narrator
The weekly audience between queen and prime minister is a private meeting, and the conversation
remains strictly secret. The queen remains completely politically neutral.
Sir John Major
You know that not only now but in future, no one is going to write memoirs with a version of what was said. So you can be utterly, totally frank, even indiscreet, with the queen.
Tony Blair
When you’re in a position where there’s a lot of pressure and a lot of responsibility on you, that’s a tremendous bonus.
The Queen
How did all your meetings go last week when you saw all these people, just after I’d…?
Tony Blair
They were quite good, actually. I think they want to do a deal if they possibly can. The question is whether we can get everyone through it at the end of this week, really, but it’s… For the new countries, particularly, they want one. That’s the best chance we’ve got of getting one.
The Queen
I can imagine. We had an interesting time in Northern Ireland, which was very nice.
Sir John Major
You meet the queen privately, you’re seated in armchairs, you talk, corgis are scattered around. And the prime minister talks to the queen about what is going on, what has happened, what is happening, what he would wish to happen. He’d talk about personalities, he’d talk about personal things, he’d talk about problems. Nothing is barred. Everything is open season.
Tony Blair
It all went well?
The Queen
Yes. We even got into the middle of Belfast. We went to the Belfast Central Mission, which is like this sort of open house. But it’s absolutely opposite the Europa Hotel, which I think was bombed more than any other building in Ireland, so it was rather fascinating to see it.
Tony Blair
She will assess situations and difficulties and can describe them, but without ever, and I have to say, this is the remarkable thing, in all the years now I’ve been doing these audiences, without ever giving any clue as to political preference or anything like that. It’s absolutely… It’s quite remarkable to see, in fact.
Edward Heath
She never hesitated to make her views known and listened very patiently to any which I expressed.
Narrator
At the end of the weekly audience, the prime minister is shown out by the queen’s equerry and returns to Number Ten, and whoever is monarch and whoever is prime minister, the tradition continues.
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