Unpublished list reveals Royal Wedding guests
In addition to the politicians on the published list of guests for the Royal Wedding, I have learned that there are also several other politicians on the much longer unpublished list of the bride and groom's personal guests.
Two are MPs, both are Conservatives. They are Nicholas Soames a long-standing friend of Prince Charles, and Rory Stewart, a former tutor to Prince William.
And there is also the former Labour Welsh Secretary Lord (John) Morris, who was invited through being a knight of the garter.
Two other knights of the garter who are former Tory ministers, Lord Carrington and Lord (Richard) Luce, have both been invited, but I've not yet discovered if they're going.
So by my reckoning the party tally of definite attenders is 12 Conservative politicians - Cameron, Osborne, Hague, May, Clarke, Hunt, Alex Fergusson (presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament), Boris Johnson, Judith Warner (Lord Mayor of Westminster), Soames and Stewart. There's just one Lib Dem - Nick Clegg. And three Labour - Ed Miliband, Carwyn Jones, the First Minister of Wales, and Lord Morris.
At a pinch you could say it's four Labour if you include Sally Bercow, wife of the Commons Speaker (and the subject, incidentally, among Conservative MPs as to whether she will tweet "something inappropriate" from the Abbey).
Or perhaps five Labour people if you include John Bercow himself, as one senior Labour figure mischievously suggests I should.
I'm Michael Crick, and I'm Newsnight's political editor. My guiding rule is that in any story there's usually something the politicians would prefer the world not to know. My job is to find that out. Follow me on
Comment number 1.
At 27th Apr 2011, sionnyn wrote:Much to their shame, there is one Plaid Cymru AM - dafydd elis thomas attending - though to be fair, Plaid is not a republican party, The vast majority of Plaid members are republicans, however, and we are all disgusted with him!
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Comment number 2.
At 29th Apr 2011, EmrysB wrote:So did Ed Miliband attend the Royal Wedding? The 91Èȱ¬ showed David Cameron (several times) and Nick Clegg - but not once did they show Ed Miliband. The Royal Family is supposed to be above politics so this omission by the 91Èȱ¬ was not only rude but also a great disservice to the Royal Family - especially as it highlighted the appalling snub to two previous Prime Ministers who happened to be of the Labour Party. A huge shame all-round that spoiled the harmony of a beautiful wedding.
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Comment number 3.
At 30th Apr 2011, stevie wrote:the Royal family has shown itself to be a narrow minded, insular, and vindictive bunch of parasites all of which I totally expect from an out of date institution and their refusal to let Blair and Brown 'in' only confirms this....
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Comment number 4.
At 1st May 2011, Will71 wrote:#3 - Stevie, your posts are dripping with bitterness and envy.....while being very short of any facts.
why do you hate the Royal family so much? you seem to want to drag them down to your level and ensure we live in a completely dull and beige society.........just like most republican states.
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