Gorblimey

Mark Elf, whose strong stomach I have noticed before, has dragged up another rank and festering treasure for our queasy admiration. Wait 'til you find out which chirpy cockernee sparrer (and latter-day saint) was offering these condolences for a dead racist:

I speak in this debate to represent the people of the east end who, as the whole country knows, held the Queen Mother in great affection. I shall speak not about what the Queen Mother inherited or passed on, but what the Queen Mother merited. She merited respect, and nowhere is that respect greater than in my constituency—land of the pearly kings and queens who were inspired by the sparkling monarch who picked her way through the rubble...

The century the Queen Mother spanned has closed. She was the last Empress. Although the world in which she was born and in which she moved has vanished, the characteristics with which she is associated endure, and we in the east end give thanks for them.