I very much share everyone’s upset and frustration about the cancellation of our Autumn Conference. I’m set to lose a great deal of money on my non-refundable, fully-paid in advance hotel booking, and I’ve spent many hours and a great deal of angst on a speech that I’m not going to deliver. And, above all, I very much wanted to attend conference in person for the first time since my re-election in 2019 – now nearly three years ago!

But I fully support the decision. The death of her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II last Thursday isn’t just the death of an individual. We haven’t cancelled conference just out of deference to the feelings of her family, or the many other people up and down the country who feel a personal sense of loss. This is the death of a Head of State, which demands a different level of response. It’s right that as a party, we respond at an institutional level, and pay respects to the long years of service Her Majesty gave to this country.

But more importantly than that, this is a period in which the powers of the Head of State transfer from one person another, and it’s a sensitive constitutional moment. Even more so, because it hasn’t happened in this country in most people’s memory. Of the six former prime ministers present at the Accession Council on Saturday, only one of them – John Major – would have had any memory of the previous accession, and even he was only nine years old at the time.

It is of the utmost importance for the stability of the nation that the handover of power from one Head of State to the next is not disrupted. The strength of the constitutional monarchy under which the United Kingdom is governed is that the succession is clear – we’ve all of us known for all of our lives that the throne would pass to King Charles III when his mother died. Our new king becomes the head of the four nations of the United Kingdom, as well as the Head of State in 15 other countries around the world. He becomes the Head of the Church of England, the Head of the Armed Forces and the person in whose name all legislation is passed and justice is delivered. The transfer of these roles and responsibilities is not just automatic – there are processes and ceremonies to undertake. King Charles III will be travelling to all four nations of the UK this week, for example, and proclamations have had to be made in all parts of the country and the Commonwealth.

These formalities take place within the fixed time frame of the period of mourning, between the death and the funeral. It’s important that nothing is seen to challenge the legitimacy of the new Head of State in that time, so that the process isn’t disrupted. Our system works because we divide up the functions of an elected Head of Government and a non-elected Head of State. The political neutrality of our Head of State is fundamental to ensuring that this works, so the transfer of power between Heads of State cannot be influenced by politics. Any suggestion of political influence during the transfer would undermine the legitimacy of the Head of State. That’s why it’s necessary to suspend political campaigning during this short period.

I’m not arguing that this is an ideal model – I know there are many members who would argue for an alternative to the monarchy (I understand an argument for this was forcefully put during our 1994 conference by a keen Young Liberal!). But, at this very moment, when the transfer needs to take place, this is the model we have.

Cancelling conference isn’t about being sensitive to people’s feelings or worrying about our critics in the press. It’s about taking our constitutional responsibilities as an opposition party seriously, and being seen to visibly and formally accept those responsibilities as part of the national movement to ensure a peaceful transfer between Heads of State. We only need to look at the recent events in the United States to know that we can never take a peaceful transfer of power for granted.

We are tremendously fortunate that we live in a country where a transfer of power is pretty much a formality, but it relies on everyone respecting the role they have to play in it.

* Sarah Olney is the MP for Richmond Park. She joined the Liberal Democrats in 2015 and won a spectacular victory in the Richmond Park by-election in December 2016. She lost the seat by a heartbreaking 45 votes in the 2017 General Election, but then regained it resoundingly at the 2019 General Election.