Queen ‘purred’ over Scotland result: Cameron
Getty
The Queen apparently purred like a pussycat when British Prime Minister David Cameron informed her that Scotland was staying part of the United Kingdom.
Voters in Scotland last week rejected independence 55 to 45 per cent in a referendum.
Mr Cameron on Tuesday was filmed chatting with former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg about the result.
• Climate threat ‘urgent’: Obama
• US war planes hit IS targets
“The definition of relief is being Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and ringing up the Queen and saying ‘It is all right, it’s OK'”, the PM told Mr Bloomberg in New York.
“That was something. She purred down the line.”
What Mr Cameron said next is inaudible, Sky News reported.
However, he subsequently carried on: “But it should never have been that close.”
“It wasn’t in the end,” Mr Cameron added.
“But there was a time in the middle of the campaign when it felt …”
Mr Bloomberg then spoke before Mr Cameron finished his sentence.
Scottish voters rejected independence by 55 per cent to 45. Photo: Getty
The PM concluded: “I’ve said I want to find these polling companies and I want to sue them for my stomach ulcers because of what they put me through. It was very nervous moments.”
Westminster politicians in early September scrambled to pledge greater autonomy for Scotland after an opinion poll put the pro-independence camp ahead just 11 days out from the crucial vote.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, an avowed monarchist, caused a stir in the UK in mid-August by suggesting that Scotland quitting the union would be a victory for the enemies of justice and freedom.
“As a friend of Britain, as an observer from afar, it’s hard to see how the world would be helped by an independent Scotland,” Mr Abbott told a British newspaper.
“I think the people who would like to see the break-up of the United Kingdom are not the friends of justice, the friends of freedom, and the countries that would cheer at the prospect … are not the countries whose company one would like to keep.”