Queen Elizabeth II was “one of the greatest leaders the world has even known”, said Liz Truss as the new prime minister led tributes to the late sovereign in the Commons.
Ms Truss hailed the longest-reigning monarch’s life of service and described her as “a champion of freedom and democracy around the world”.
The prime minister said the nation had witnessed “the most heartfelt outpouring of grief” since news of the Queen’s death on Thursday, saying life had “paused” to mourn her passing.
“Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known. The United Kingdom is the great country it is today because of her,” she said.
Praising her “sheer humanity”, Ms Truss said: “She re-invented the monarchy for the modern age. She was a champion of freedom and democracy around the world. She was willing to have fun – whether on a mission with 007 or having tea with Paddington Bear.”
Ms Truss revealed that the Queen shared her “deep experience of government” when the two met at Balmoral this week. “She remained determined to carry out her duties even at the age of 96 … even in those last days.”
Referring to a new “Carolean age” as she closed her speech, the PM said Charles “has already made a profound contribution through his work on conservation, education, and his tireless diplomacy – we owe him our loyalty and devotion”.
MPs dressed in black rose for a minutes silence from 12 noon on Friday, before Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle hailed the “magnificence in which she undertook the role of Queen”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to Elizabeth II as “this great country’s greatest monarch” who had unified the nation in times of turbulence. “The loss of our Queen robs this country of its stillest point, its greatest comfort, at precisely the time we need those things most.”
He added: “The late Queen would want us to redouble our efforts, to turn our collar up and face the storm. To carry on. Most of all, she would want us to remember that it is these moments that we must all pull together.”
Sir Keir called on the country to remember “one of the great lessons of our Queen’s reign – that we are always better when we rise above the petty, the trivial, the day-to-day, to focus on the things that really matter, the things that unite us, rather than those which divide us”.
It was now time to take forward the Queen’s legacy, he said, “to show the same love of country, the love of one another, as she did. To show empathy and compassion, as she did, and to get Britain through this dark night and bring it into the dawn, as she did.”
Former Tory MP Boris Johnson revealed that he had been “moved to tears” during a special interview about the Queen after the BBC film crew requested that he talk about her in the past tense.
“I’m afraid I simply choked up and I couldn’t go on. I’m really not easily moved to tears, but I was so overcome with sadness, that I had to ask them to go away,” Mr Johnson said.
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford paid tribute to the Queen as “a steady hand guiding the ship and the perpetual symbol of stability”.
Earlier on Friday, Ms Truss and her ministers also held a minute’s silence at a special cabinet in Downing Street this morning where senior ministers shared memories of the Queen.
The nation’s new monarch King Charles III has begun his poignant journey from Balmoral to London, following the death of his mother the Queen. He is due to make a televised address to the nation at 6pm.
