The Labour MP who mocked Prince Harry’s military service has admitted she got her facts wrong but insisted she was “just poking fun.”
Emma Dent Coad, the MP for Kensington, embarked on an extraordinary rant in which she accused Prince Philip of cheating on the Queen and then criticised Prince Harry’s military service, declaring, also incorrectly, that he cannot fly helicopters.
Speaking to the London Evening Standard, she said: “I actually also said, ‘I have been told this [about Prince Harry], but if I have made a mistake I will hold my hands up’.”
On her accusation that Prince Philip had affairs, she said: “Oh no, shock horror. I’m not going to respond to that, everyone knows what’s going on… I don’t want to get into the detail of it because it’s got out of hand.
“I was talking about whether taxpayers should fund the royal family.
“I was just poking fun. But we need a proper debate about the royal family. It’s about taxpayer funding. Why are taxpayers funding them? Why can’t I disagree? It seems like we are not allowed to have an opinion.
“I’m being called everything under the sun this morning, getting all sorts of vile abuse. This has opened the gates to hell. ”
Despite Ms Dent Coad’s comments at a fringe event at the party’s annual conference drawing criticism, shadow education secretary Angela Rayner declined to call for her to apologise.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday, Ms Rayner said: “We are a party where people hold different views… she’s entitled to her opinion.”
