ICYMI

This week the entire fraking world has been obsessed with the private lives of Harry and Meghan. For the most part I don’t care how they conduct their lives. Despite where I work, I have ever only seen two three royals up close. They are the Queen, the Duke and the Duke who got to keep his title despite doing something far worse that Harry ever did. Also, the British right-wing press has had it in for Megan from the very beginning so, more power to them for making their own way.

They don't owe us anything.

News that may have slipped past your eyes this week include a very innocuous question from Desmond Swayne during this week’s Prime Minister’s Question time. For those who are unaware, the questions posed to the Prime Minister during their question time are “open questions”. The Prime Minister is unaware of the question unless the questioner lets the PM know ahead of time. This is often done to get a thought through answer from the PM on an important constituency subject or, a free hit for the PM to gloat about some project. Open questions allow the session to be free-flowing jumping from one topic to the other.

A “closed question” is one that is about a specific subject and printed in the order paper before PMQs. This week the PM was asked:
“What plans he has to reform the relationship between the legislature, Executive and the judiciary.”
The Prime Minister replied,
“A constitution, democracy and rights commission will be established to examine the broader aspects of the constitution and to develop proposals to restore trust in our institutions and in how our democracy operates. Careful consideration is needed on the composition and focus of the commission, and further announcements will be made in due course.”

Desmond Swayne replied, “Will my right hon. Friend let bygones be top priority?”

The Prime Minister said,
“I can tell my right hon. Friend that our independent courts and legal system are admired around the world. We will continue to ensure that judicial review is available to protect the rights of individuals against an overbearing state while ensuring that it is not abused to conduct politics by another means or to create needless delays.”

That whole question is, of course, a precursor to an announcement of some sort of constitutional commission to look at all of the “outrages” that occurred before the 2019 election. The problem with these commissions is that the Government control the membership of the commission as well as if they will implement the recommendations of the commissions. The Conservatives have already declared their opposition the actions of the Parliament and courts during the Brexit process are seeking to redress their perceived slights during the 2017-2019 Parliament.

What most people do not realise about the British Parliamentary system is the UNLIMITED POWER that the Government have. No matter their level of electoral victory, be it 30% or 43% of the popular vote, the winning political party receives 100 percent of the legislating power of the House of Commons (which controls the Parliament) and, total control of the machinery of Government. The opposition’s ability to fight these changes are dependent of the size of the Government majority. A small majority or, minority government means that the Government may be controlled but, a Government with a large majority can rule, basically, as a one-party state.

We are currently in a Parliament where the government has a large majority. As I’ve written before, the UK does not have a written constitution therefore; all of the constitutional acts are simply laws that can be changed through a vote of the majority of the House of Commons. This means laws that define the very nature of British society can be changed by a simple majority vote of the House of Commons. Acts like the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, the Human Rights Act and others are all under threat as the Tory majority can repeal them or, amend them to fit their needs.

Therefore, when this question was put forward this week, it meant that they are lining the press and public up for a purge of percived enemies of the Conservative Party. I would call those "enemies" checks and balances. It will not look or sound like a purge. It will be draped in the Union Flag and called “The Great Reform” or ,something like that. It will, once again, place Parliament versus the people and, place Boris Johnson as the “straight-talking” politician who’s looking out for you. There will be glorious headlines in the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail declaring that Britain is set for a new Golden Age…by reverting the Supreme Court to the House of Lords and/or, preventing the courts from interfering in reversing illegal actions from the executive.

Many, like Desmond Swayne, who believe in the power of Brexit, believe that the Government have the power to do WHATEVER THEY WANT. He even went as far as to call the Supreme Court's re-instatement of Parliament " a coup" therefore, when Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson lied to the Queen about proroguing Parliament, there are many who believed that was the right thing to do because; the executive can do whatever it wants.

This is the power of not having a constitution.

Donald Trump is currently awaiting trial in the US Senate to see if he will be removed from office after the House of Representatives impeached him for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in his efforts to extort information out of a foreign leader to help his upcoming Presidential campaign.

This is all possible because of the US Constitution. Article one of the Constitution which grants the legal right to the Congress to truly hold the executive to account with the ultimate sanction of removal from office. There is no comparison to that law in Westminster outside of the recall of Members of Parliament which limits that right to the people living in the constituency.

Without a constitution to keep Johnson in check he can, unilaterally, re-write the UK Constitution and, if he does this in the afterglow of his victory, we could be seeing substantial and permanent change to the way this country operates and, unless his own party rebels against him, there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

So that’s something that happened this week.

In Case You Missed It.