Where to start?
Well. That was all a bit unexpected, wasn’t it?
I mean, there we were, happily watching our economy crumble, our housing bubble burst, and our country stumble scarily, when all of a sudden Parliament imploded.
Let’s take a minute, shall we? Because this is big, people. In our lives, we may never face anything more important for our country than what we’re looking at right now. What we have here is your basic constitutional crisis. A government in freefall. A parliamentary system that has just proven it fundamentally does not work in modern times. And all right smack-dab in the middle of global economic crisis the likes of which few if any of us have never seen.
Great. I was hoping to spend the summer lying in the sun reading smutty novels, and now I’m going to have to spend it playing Jefferson to your Franklin.
What now?
Let’s approach this pragmatically. There’s a lot to be done, and a relatively short time span in which to do it. So here are some steps to get us started.
Step One: Don’t trust your government
Look, it’s nothing personal. I know these guys, and they seem nice. But they have nothing to gain from a constitutional convention, and everything to lose from what is best for the nation right now.
It would be great to think that they would put patriotism ahead of their party and do what’s best for the country but they’re politicians.
So that’s not going to happen.
From this moment forward, take it as given that every word they say is a lie. They’re well-intended lies, and in their minds ‘white’ lies told for the good of… well, themselves. But lies nonetheless.
So when Alastair Darling says the recession will be over by Christmas… (Why?? Why did he say ‘Christmas’? Of all the loaded phrases he could have chosen. I mean, seriously.)
Well, you know what to think.
Step Two: Don’t trust the other political parties either
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been seeing lots of Conservative banners about in my neighbourhood. And UKIP has big signs and billboards up out in the countryside. And my more liberal friends are all planning to vote Lib-Dem to teach Labour a lesson.
It would be great to think we could just vote for another political party and they’ll swoop in and fix this situation and we can all get back to our jobs and busy lives; problem solved. But it’s not going to work that way this time.
Whichever political party wins at the next election will promptly find itself in the position Labour is in now, with nothing to gain from fixing this broken system.
Here’s why: The British parliamentary system was designed for a closely divided house, a powerful House of Lords and strong monarchy. None of which exists anymore.
In the modern politically divided democratic age this antiquated system gives absolute power to any winner with a strong majority. Given the mood swings of the public, and the fact that so many of you, like me, are independent centrists who vote for whichever party you think is right on this occasion and for these times, strong majorities will keep happening.
Labour – with a huge majority – has had absolute power for 12 years. If the Conservatives sweep to power with a landslide in the next election, they will have that same absolute power. The opposition is neutered by its minority position, and the party in power legally controls all the branches of government.
Absolute power. Absolute corruption. They go together like a horse and carriage.
It might not rhyme, but it’s truer than any couplet.
Step Three: Demand an election
This government has no credibility. They’re going to tell you they need to stay in power to ‘fix’ things. Would you let the fox ‘fix’ the hen house?
Just how stupid do they think we are?
If they refuse to call an election, we’re going to have to be rather firm, I’m afraid. We will have to march, and there will need to be a bit of civil unrest. It could all get a bit heated. But this is how it works. If they won’t jump, we will have to push.
This is an unelected government, and I don’ t know about you, but when an unelected government pushes me around, or treats me like I’m an idiot, it makes me very, very irritable.
The election is just a house-cleaning, though. It’s not a full solution.
Step four: Demand a constitutional convention
Now we will have to take a look Parliament, and the way three branches of government are essentially one big undemocratic tree trunk.
This convention cannot be the usual suspects (get thee behind me, Hazel Blears). It needs to be a mixture of academics, ordinary citizens, and a few politicians. I can see Simon Schama on this committee (how wonderful would that be?) and Sir David Attenborough. No actors, please. Or artists or poets (I beg you). A good mix of politically engaged citizens, politically independent scholars, and a handful of politicians who have proven themselves not to be completely useless.
The process must be open. They should blog and tweet about their discussions and disagreements. They should be given no more than four months to do the work, and whatever they come up with should fit on the front and back of an A3 sheet of paper.
Less is more, when it comes to constitutions. All we really need from them is:
- a basic outline of a new Parliament structure with a real balance of powers
- a bill of fundamental citizens’ rights (not to be confused with human rights)
- a brief explanation of what we can expect from our government
The rest we can build over time.
So, let’s get started.
Comments
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Dan Wilson on 05.27.2009
Can I be Madison?
The Centrist on 05.27.2009
The Centrist would be very happy for you to be Madison. A Washington would come in handy too, if you know one.
Jack on 05.27.2009
I think you make an excellent argument for how this terrible public mood of cynicism and justifiable outrage could be harnessed. I think I would add to your argument that integral to constitutional reform should be a strengthening of parliament’s powers, as well as a more codified separation – parliament as an institution is a limp shadow of what it was, even a decade or so ago.
Precisely what the reforms of parliamentary powers should be is a veeery long discussion, but I would suggest two things as a good start. First, parliament as a whole needs to decide membership of all committees. Second, parliament needs to vote on the budget, as Congress does in the US. As you say, we want to find a more lasting redress of the balance of powers, rather than just replacing one all-powerful government with another at the next election.
Indeed, I think it’s more important than ever right now, given how likely a Conservative victory by a large margin is at the next election — not for any partisan reasons, but simply that the meaningful reform of our democracy will not be well served merely by replacing one all-powerful executive with another. It’s not that huge majorities necessarily produce bad governments, but they certainly produce weak oppositions, which is bad for government as a whole.
Jack on 05.27.2009
Meant to add – there was actually a great discussion about this on This Week in Parliament on Radio 4 at the weekend (you can still get it as a podcast). I think it was either David Davis or Frank Field – diverse figures politically, but both great believers in the parliamentary system – who gave this example about how PMQ’s has changed over the years. In Clement Atlee’s time, it was not only the Prime Minister who attended PMQs, but the entire cabinet as a matter of routine. They all sat there until every single question was answered, no matter how long it took, and they didn’t know what the questions were going to be, beforehand. I believe in the same discussion it was suggested that when a minister says in parliament that they will look into something, the parliamentary authorities should check that they do, and name and shame for the record if they don’t (which happens quite often, apparently).
Amy on 06.05.2010
I think you make an excellent argument for how this terrible public mood of cynicism and justifiable outrage could be harnessed. I think I would add to your argument that integral to constitutional reform should be a strengthening of parliament’s powers, as well as a more codified separation – parliament as an institution is a limp shadow of what it was, even a decade or so ago.
Precisely what the reforms of parliamentary powers should be is a veeery long discussion, but I would suggest two things as a good start. First, parliament as a whole needs to decide membership of all committees. Second, parliament needs to vote on the budget, as Congress does in the US. As you say, we want to find a more lasting redress of the balance of powers, rather than just replacing one all-powerful government with another at the next election.
Indeed, I think it’s more important than ever right now, given how likely a Conservative victory by a large margin is at the next election — not for any partisan reasons, but simply that the meaningful reform of our democracy will not be well served merely by replacing one all-powerful executive with another. It’s not that huge majorities necessarily produce bad governments, but they certainly produce weak oppositions, which is bad for government as a whole.
CAMERON on 06.24.2010
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