Keir Starmer meets King Charles for top secret meeting Boris Johnson got very wrong
Labour has won the 2024 General Election by a landslide - and Sir Keir Starmer will be our next Prime Minister.
Before taking his place in Number 10 after 14 years of Conservative rule, the Labour leader was formally appointed to the top job in UK politics by King Charles. Starmer, 61, arrived at Buckingham Place shortly before noon today (Friday, July 5) for a private meeting with the monarch, which will take place behind closed doors.
Starmer's aides will be hoping this meeting went better than Boris Johnson's did in July 2019 - when the former UK leader breached protocol just hours after being appointed as PM by Queen Elizabeth II.
During her seven decades on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II saw an incredible 15 British prime ministers come and go - from Winston Churchill when she took the crown, through to Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair - and Boris Johnson and, finally, Liz Truss. By comparison, King Charles, 75, has never appointed a prime minister following a general election.
The only PM he has appointed is the departing Rishi Sunak - who will become the second PM, after Truss, to give the King their formal resignation. During her seven decades on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II saw an incredible 15 British prime ministers come and go - from Winston Churchill when she took the crown, through to Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair - and Boris Johnson and, finally, Liz Truss.
The appointment - known as 'the kissing of hands' - is usually just a handshake, with the actual kissing of hands taking place later at a Privy Council meeting. The King has already travelled down to Windsor Castlee from Scotland - where he had been busy with engagements in Edinburgh for Holyrood Week - to be on standby for the private meeting.
And while the resignation and the appointment are two very different occasions, both take place in private - and what is said by both parties is subject to the strictest of confidence. And this is where Boris blundered...
Johnson reportedly shared details of his conversation with the Queen , which should have been kept secret. He made the protocol faux pas during a tour of his new home in Downing Street.
EuroNews journalist Vincent McAviney claimed Johnson said the Queen had made a brutally honest comment during their short chat, reports The Mirror.. McAviney said Johnson said the Queen said: "I don't know why anyone would want the job."
However, Downing Street staff quickly reprimanded Johnson and told him "not to repeat those things so loudly", claimed McAviney.
