baldysblog.co.uk

Following the election of Bercow as Speaker, Steve Richards writing in the Independent today was speculating about “real reform” and the Separation of Powers.

“A few years ago the Labour MP and ardent constitutional reformer, Graham Allen, put forward a proposal for a presidential system in Britain. I thought at the time he was living in a fantasy world, but we are almost there in terms of our preoccupation with leaders, the decline of parties and the growing demand for Prime Ministers to be held to account.”

Would it Work ?

Whether you call it a Presidential System along the lines of the USA or a “Directly Elected Prime Minister”, in theory it would be possible for the public to vote for a national Prime Minister directly as well as a local MP and Member of the House of Lords. The PM thus elected could appoint his Cabinet from outside of elected politicians and the Commons and the Lords as the Legislature could therefore properly hold the Executive to account.

The problem is, I don’t think it would work for one key reason. In the States, the “Office of President and Commander in Chief” is held in the highest esteem by all even if the present incumbent at any time isn’t. You don’t have to go back to Hogarth and “Rotten Boroughs” to understand that in Britain, all authority is held in contempt by default which includes the Monarch and the Prime Minister. The point is, you can change the “system” but you can’t change the British people and their ingrained attitudes.

A Republic

Someone wrote in extolling the idea of sweeping away the Monarchy and replacing it all with some kind of Republic with a Southern Irish type President and Head of State. Actually what they seemed to describe was a sort of Australian Governor General but it was all pants and I’m afraid the “Rude Boy” in me came to the fore in reply:

“Hilarious, you are doing early rehearsals for the Panto Season I suspect !

I loved the “and bring in a vigorous constitution involving a strong parliament, small but effective upper house,”

Clearly you haven’t been watching recent events and in particular have never looked at the membership of the House of Commons, the majority of whom could not run a jolly in a brewery. What you need to realise is that a suddenly introduced “New System” will not produce different people, a sudden super breed of British politicians dressed in flowing robes, golden sandals, harps and halos, it will be the same old crud or a small variation as we already have, surely the Speaker Election yesterday must have demonstrated that MPs still haven’t got the message ? Still fiddling whilst the City burns came to my mind.

Not the System, the People

The thing that has undermined Parliament is not the “system”, we have been living in a potential 5 year elected dictatorship for well over 100 years based on FPTP, what has undermined the system is the people WE have elected, professional politicians and bum boys to their party bosses. It is the loss of independently minded MPs on all sides of the House that is the problem allied to the Prime Minister gobbling up Royal Prerogatives and Patronage like some demented Pac Man computer game.

It is the lessening of Cabinet Government too that is to blame, not just women but the whole lot in Blair and Brown’s Cabinets are just window dressing. I understand that during the reign of Queen Victoria, the whole Cabinet was consulted on a Dissolution of Parliament, today we are left with a demented, unelected, in denial, Prime Minister to decide when we the electorate get the Election the country is crying out for.

Keep the Monarchy at All Costs

Even if you hate the Monarchy, given the vain and egocentric type of creature that strives and plots to become an MP and “something better” thereafter, denying them the “Top Job”, even if it has no power, is brilliant. The idea of Cherie Blair and her ilk, resenting the Queen for her inherited position, is far too delicious a thought to ever surrender.