Privilege

I cannot imagine how Lord Hanningfield managed to be a front bench spokesman for the Official Opposition while simultaneously the Leader of a County Council, no matter how close to London. Not even the Leader of Westminster City Council could pull that one off.

And all credit to the magistrate for making anyone facing charges stand in the dock.

But for all the faults of Charles I, the law of England at the time specifically precluded the trial of the monarch. He was not, and did not claim to be, above the law. Rather, that was the law. When an appalling kangaroo court broke it in spectacular fashion, it unleashed on each of his Three Kingdoms the worst tyranny in each of their respective histories, and at least arguably the only true tyranny in the history of England. Think on. Long and hard.

And think on the letting off of all but three MPs. Think on how all three of them are retiring anyway. Think on how all three of them come from the party that the Police and the CPS thought at the time was going to lose the forthcoming General Election, rather than from the party that they thought was going to win. Think on how the only token Tory whom they could find to prosecute was unelected and obscure. Think on how he did not have to appear in court with the three MPs, but instead at a different time when the mob had gone home.

Think on, and on, and on. Very long indeed. And very hard indeed.