Jeremy Corbyn has turned down the chance to be made a member of the privy council in person by the Queen, with his office saying that private engagements made such a ceremony impossible.
The decision suggested that the Labour leader, a republican, was unwilling to follow convention and bow in front of the monarch, sometimes seen as an essential part of the privy council ceremony.
Corbyn has previously revealed that he needed to think about whether he was willing to attend such a ceremony.
In practice it is possible, and frequent, for members of the privy council to be appointed without meeting the monarch through a device known as an Order in Council, but is rare for a party leader to use such a course.
Corbyn’s office said that he had a prior engagement but declined to say how much notice had been given to Buckingham Palace, or reveal the nature of the private engagement that meant he was unable to meet the Queen.
It was being claimed that it was the responsibility of Corbyn’s staff to contact the palace to state he would attend Thursday’s meeting, and Corbyn’s office confirmed staff had written to say he would not.
In practice, the largely ceremonial body made up of 600 senior figures, including politicians, meets very rarely and not to transact any serious business. But other leftwing Labour leaders including Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock quickly became privy councillors, entitling them to higher-class security information and briefings.
David Cameron launched a strong attack on Corbyn in his conference speech arguing he was a terrorist sympathiser, an attack prompted by conversations Cameron held at the UN last week where he was struck by foreign leaders’ disbelief at the Labour leader’s reported view.
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