Thursday, 4 May 2023

King's Gambit

Since he will be making a welcome return to Question Time this evening, Peter Hitchens will no doubt be deploying his argument that the monarchy was like the King on a chessboard, able to do almost nothing, but keeping anyone else, in this case politicians, from occupying his space.

To which the response is to ask for a specific example. What, exactly, has the monarchy ever prevented a politician from doing? What does the monarchy do that any politician might ever wish to do? Even when they want a ceremonial role, then they just invent one for themselves. The Crown is precisely what invests its Ministers, and supremely the Prime Minister, with the most awesome power.

But the Royal Prerogative is what some of us like about the monarchy. In striving for economic equality and for international peace, we have no desire to abolish it. Rather, we are working for someone of our mind to exercise it, and to do so in its fullness.

2 comments:

  1. The Crown is precisely what invests its Ministers, and supremely the Prime Minister, with the most awesome power

    What power? A Prime Minister has absolutely no power whatsoever unless he commands the confidence of the Commons and leads a government that can command a majority in that House.

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    Replies
    1. Oh, but he has. Parliament can only sit at all if summoned by the monarch. Meaning the Prime Minister. And there is a lot more where that came from.

      There are things that do require Parliament. But nowhere near as many as a lot of people think. Unencumbered by an Oxford PPE degree or anything like that, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn not only knew, but did not pretend not to know, although Corbyn would have been inclined to have done far less with the knowledge, alas. Theresa May also had her tendencies.

      Did you realise that the Royal Navy existed under the Royal Prerogative, and not pursuant to an Act of Parliament? Let that sink in. And I say again that there is a lot more where that came from.

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