VERY MIDSUMMER MADNESS: THE IDIOCIES OF BRITAIN’S UNWRITTEN CONSTITUTION
By Professor Duncan Richard Shaw, PhD
Madrid, 7 July 2022
Have you ever heard this expression: if you don’t know where you going, you’re likely to end up somewhere else?
Or this one? Maps are essential; planning a journey without a map is like building a house without drawings…
Well, that is exactly what troubled Britain is trying to do this week: to navigate a profound constitutional crisis, without having…a written constitution.
Not easy, you might think.
One of my courses at Schiller is the annual required course for first-year students Introduction to Political Science, in which we review the different political systems established in different countries (parliamentary or presidential, federal or unity, etc).
One of the key themes of the course is the importance of a straightfoward and venerated constitution – a clear roadmap for when a country loses its direction. After all, it was only thanks to the clarity and gravity of the US constitution that Donald Trump’s January violent, illegal coup of January 2021 was foiled.
Most students fall about laughing when, after explaining how constitutions work in different countries, I sadly point out that Britain (the much-vaunted ‘mother of democracies’) is the only country in the world which does not have a written constitution.
Their laughter continues when I tell them Britain only has an ‘unwritten constitution’, loosely based around habeas corpus, Magna Carta, and established traditions and precedents.
There is always at least one clever student who asks: what happens when these traditions and precedents are not clear, or are in dispute?
Good question, I reply: then I point out the many ‘grey areas’ and unanswered questions that the chaotic British system periodically throws up:
- what are the powers of the monarch?
- how is the Prime Minister chosen? what are his/her powers?
- what are the powers of the (unelected) House of Lords?
- when should elections take place? what constitutes an ‘electoral mandate’?
- what are the powers of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies?
- can these countries secede from the United Kingdom?
- is Scotland allowed to hold another independence referendum next year, as Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon desires?
More questions than answers, as the great Johnny Nash told us in 1972…
In particular, there is one question that is dragging Britain down into chaos and confusion right now: what happens if a Prime Minister refuses to step down, despite having become universally unpopular and reviled – and despite most of his ministers having resigned?
Britain woke up on Thursday to a panorama of absolute chaos. Practically the entire country (plus most of his own party, and every single newspaper) wants the insufferable, mendacious Boris Johnson to resign, after all his lies about drunken lockdown parties and Brexit benefits.
Underpinning the constitutions of most countries is a ‘gentleman’s agreement’: that the leader will stop down if he or she is caught out lying consistently, and has become so reviled that the system is paralyzed.
Even Margaret Thatcher reluctantly agreed to step down in 1990 (with Britain in neoliberal misery), the same as Tony Blair in 2007 (after all his lies and half-truths about the invasion of Iraq).
However, Johnson is stubbornly refusing to follow the examples of Thatcher and Blair.
Will the Conservative Party throw him out? Will his own MPs join with the opposition in a no-confidence vote in the House of Commons? Will the queen allow him to call a general election, if he goes to Buckingham Palace and demands this?
Nobody knows for sure, maybe not even (or especially?)Johnson himself.
The world looks on and recalls Shakespeare: why, this is very midsummer madness…
Ah, the joys of being ‘the mother of democracies’ – and of having an ‘unwritten constitution’…
Another very good article. Have all you found it useful?
These are strange times indeed, and a knowlege of political systems, how they work, or perhaps, why they are not working, is vital. This is a very clear explanation. I look forward to reading more articles.
Britain apparently has bumbled through this crisis..As for America the right-wing court and state legislatures are turning the Constitution on its head.
An intriguing discussion is definitely worth comment. Theres no doubt that that you should write more on this subject, it might not be a taboo subject but usually people dont talk about these topics. To the next! Best wishes!!