2023-11-25
Martin Geddes asks how our system of government became corrupt, and notes how that corrupt system was legally ended with the execution of King Charles I. You may argue that what followed was no better, but that doesn't invalidate the legal principle, it merely describes the result at the time.
Martin then enlightens us about an Act of Parliament passed in 1649, which may open a whole new can of worms ...
In the mention of this he states:
"So 'we the people' are sovereign, and act as principal, delegating this sovereignty to government, our agent"
Well, not as I understand it, although this does bring out another aspect of the corruption of our constitutional arrangements: Government and Parliament are emphatically not the same thing.
Under the separation of powers, Parliament proposes legislation which is then approved by the Crown giving the Royal Assent.
The Government then rules according to the approved legislation. The Government are the Ministers of the Crown, who by convention sit as MPs in the House of Commons, or in the House of Lords (most common in earlier times but still done today, as in the case of Lord Cameron). In this way, Ministers of the Crown can be held accountable to the people's representatives in Parliament (unless they sit in the House of Lords, where they are accountable to their Lordships).
Ministers of the Crown in Parliament have two (incompatible?) roles, firstly their role as a representative in Parliament of the people in their constituency, and secondly their appointment by the Crown (albeit on the "advice" of the Prime Minister) to any particular ministerial office. He/she works for two bosses:
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” - Matthew 6:24 King James Version.
Nor by implication can ye serve both the People and the Crown.
Yes, our constitution has been liberally trashed for centuries, vesting what amounts to plenipotentiary powers in Parliament, which operates daily under the gaze of the Remembrancer.
"Follow the money".
Martin has pointed up a very interesting episode in England's history which may have considerable relevance to our situation today.
It may also open up whole new cans of worms ...
