KEIR Starmer has intervened to praise King Charles after the monarch was heckled by an anti-royals senator in the Australian parliament.
Speaking to reporters after Lidia Thorpe accused the King of “genocide” against her nation’s indigenous people, Starmer praised Charles’s “fantastic” work.
He said: “I think the King is doing a fantastic job, an incredible ambassador, not just for our country, but across the Commonwealth.”
He said he was looking forward to joining Charles at the Commonwealth summit in Samoa this week, adding: “I think he’s doing a fantastic job, and we should remember in the context of health, that he is out there doing his public service notwithstanding, you know, the health challenges he himself has had – so I think he’s doing a great job.”
The King was diagnosed with cancer in February and has paused his treatment while he carries out the long-haul tour to Australia – his first as the country’s monarch – and his state visit to Samoa.
After the King addressed guests at Parliament House, Thorpe, who wore a possum skin coat and carried a traditional message stick, shouted: “You are not our King, you are not sovereign […] you have committed genocide against our people.
“Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us […] Our babies, our people. You destroyed our land.”
As she was escorted out by security, Thorpe (above), who campaigns on First Nations issues, shouted: “Give us a treaty – we want a treaty with this country […] This is not your land, this is not your land, you are not my King, you are not our King.”
Thorpe said she was prevented from handing the King a “notice of complicity in Aboriginal genocide” according to the Statute of the International Criminal Court 1998.
She said later in a statement: “The British Crown committed heinous crimes against the First Peoples of this country.
“These crimes include war crimes, crimes against humanity and failure to prevent genocide. There has been no justice for these crimes. The Crown must be held accountable.”
Meanwhile, Downing Street said Starmer (below) remains opposed to apologising for the UK’s historical role in slavery, and talks of reparations are “not on the agenda” for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa.
There is mounting pressure from the leaders of Caribbean nations to pay reparations for the impact of the transatlantic slave trade.
Labour MPs have also called for the Prime Minister to address the calls as he attends the summit in the Pacific island nation.
But the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson insisted he would not be discussing reparations at the gathering.
