Starmer’s Peril Sets Up Stranger-Than-Ever UK King’s Speech

The King’s Speech is an unusual way to announce government business. Governed by arcane rituals such as the searching of the cellars in Parliament and the capture of a member of the House of Commons to be held as a hostage by the monarchy, the person at the center of it all sits on a gold throne and delivers an agenda he’s had no hand in drafting.

This Wednesday it will take place in the shadow not just of the ceremonial figurehead, King Charles III, but also a prime minister in Keir Starmer whose power appears to be draining away.