Dennis Skinner Queen's Speech joke: Firebrand Labour MP tells government 'hands off the BBC'

Dennis Skinner kept with long-standing traditional at the State Opening of Parliament by shouting "Hands off the BBC" moments before the Queen's Speech. It is customary the Labour MP – known as the Beast of Bolsover – makes a colourful intervention in the House of Commons before MPs gather in the House of Lords for the monarch's speech.

He made the typically acerbic heckle on Wednesday (18 May) as Black Rod instructed MPs to make their way to "the other place". The joke, which has become as much of a part of the ceremony as the speech itself, raised smiles on both sides of the house, including from David Cameron.

On Tuesday, the BBC announced it would close Newsbeat, BBC Food and News Magazine in a cost-cutting drive BBC News and Current Affairs director James Harding hopes will save £15m. It came after a government White Paper said the corporation must scale back its services so it did not impede on other ones on the market.

The 84-year-old left-wing firebrand is no stranger to controversy. Last month he was ordered to leave the estate by the Speaker of the House John Bercow after calling the prime minister "dodgy Dave" after revelations he profited from his father's offshore fund Blairmore Holding.