Former home secretary Priti Patel was spotted filling in as a volunteer marshal for those queuing to pay their respects to the Queen.
Several photos posted on social media showed Mrs Patel in a blue high-vis jacket alongside fellow Conservative MP Andrew Stephenson on the final day of the monarch’s lying in state.
Many stopped to take photos with the politician as they queued along the Thames near Blackfriars Bridge on Sunday afternoon.
I bumped into Priti Patel, who was out marshalling The Queue today (along with Andrew Stephenson here – @Andrew4Pendle). pic.twitter.com/96Iw3817Bh
— dan barker (@danbarker) September 18, 2022
Among them was consultant Dan Barker, who was walking beside the queue with his wife when he spotted the pair near the Oxo Tower.
Blue tunic
“I realised I recognised a couple of the marshals up ahead – one was Conservative MP Andrew Stephenson; the other was Priti Patel, both dressed in the same blue tunics worn by the many marshals along the route.
“At that point nobody else seemed to have recognised them,” he added.
Queues to see the Queen’s coffin at the Palace of Westminster reached up to 24 hours at some points, with the line stretching five miles to Southwark Park.
It was closed to the public on Monday morning ahead of her state funeral at Westminster Abbey.
Mrs Patel was Home Secretary from July 2019 until earlier this month, when she was replaced by Suella Braverman as part of PM Liz Truss’ first cabinet.
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