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SubscriptionsCategory: Constitution
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‘Amateur Hour in British Politics’
As more and more ministers are handed top jobs for their loyalty rather than their competence, former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall considers what we can do about this democratic deficit
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The Causes and Consequences of Political Chaos: MPs Versus Party Members
The genesis of the current chaos lies in the main political parties deciding to allow their members to choose their leaders, writes David Keys
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Reform or Ruin: Could Labour Win the Next Election but Lose the Future?
AV Deggar considers the structural changes needed from Labour, if it knocks the Conservatives out of power at the next election
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‘Great British Democracy’: Who Voted for This?
The UK’s political system currently resembles an unelected autocracy rather than a truly representative democracy, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Small Constitutional Changes Could Urgently Address the Big Mess We Find Ourselves In’
Frances Crook, co-convener of the Commission on Political Power, sets out why incremental shifts in the role of monarchy and an over-powerful executive could strengthen democracy in the unlikely event of wholesale reform
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Royal Ideology and the Future of Monarchy
Florence Scott reflects on why it is time to discuss the underpinnings of the British monarchy – Christianity, wealth, class, imperialism
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Is Johnson’s Plan for the House of Lords the Greatest Attack on British Democracy?
Britain’s parliamentary democracy cannot allow one-party dominance in the way the Prime Minister intends for the upper chamber, says barrister Gareth Roberts
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Boris Johnson’s Most Lasting Brexit Legacy may well be the Break-Up of the UK
Boris Johnson has done more for the independence movement in Scotland and the possibility of reunification for Ireland than either the SNP or Sinn Féin managed in a generation, says Jonathan Lis
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A Graceless Fall: The Dangers That Remain in the Twilight of Johnson’s Reign
Chaotic, self-centred and unpredictable, Boris Johnson is still a constitutional conundrum, says Rachel Morris
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Boris Johnson Will Try to ‘Burn Everything to the Ground’ – Because He Can
As the Prime Minister’s actions have repeatedly shown, elaborate conventions and procedures mask the features that fundamentally undermine democracy in British politics, says Sam Bright
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Boris Johnson: Nowhere Man
With the Prime Minister at last having faced a moment of reckoning, Professor Chris Painter surveys the wreckage of a Government devoid of meaningful purpose on the key public policy issues of the day
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Johnson’s Culture War Against Judges Having a ‘Chilling Effect’ on Rule of Law, Warns Parliamentary Report
Leading MPs and peers express their concerns about the Government’s attacks on the independent judiciary, reports David Hencke
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The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: An Unprecedented Reign – But What Next for 21st Century Britain?
The Queen’s 70 years on the throne have seen Britain undergo extraordinary change – how will the monarchy’s constitutional and societal role continue to evolve in the years ahead?
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A Nation Split on the Monarchy
New polling by Omnisis for Byline Times shows a significant body of support outside England for an elected head of state
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The Boris Johnson Era has Shown how Vulnerable the UK is to Electoral Autocracy
Partygate showed that the UK’s creaking constitution gives little protection against a Prime Minister determined to ignore convention and the rule of law, writes Adam Bienkov
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‘Partygate’ is a Profound Crisis Endangering the Rule of Law in Britain
The bigger story of the scandal of Downing Street lockdown parties is how fundamentally they strike at the foundations of our democracy, says barrister Gareth Roberts
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Constitutional Culture Wars: Johnson’s Next Divide-and-Rule Campaign?
AV Deggar considers how the Vote Leave coalition may react to emboldened separatist forces in Scotland and Northern Ireland
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‘Partygate’ and the Excuse that Doesn’t Excuse a Thing
David Renton explores the concerning and increasing number of laws made by ministers, circumventing the scrutiny of Parliament, during the Coronavirus crisis and Brexit
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Risking Our Democracy
Former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall argues that the time has come for serious discussions about reforming Britain’s political structures
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Boris Johnson’s Lies are Pushing the UK Constitution to Breaking Point
The former Conservative Solicitor General believes ‘good chaps’ in his party should remove the Prime Minister from office
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Resigning Matters: By Failing to Step Down, Johnson has Put Democracy on Standby
Prime Minister Boris Johnson in March 2022. Photo: Alberto Pezzali/PA/Alamy
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Conservatives’ ‘Partygate’ Impunity for Johnson Shows the Entire British Constitution is Now At Stake
If the governing party proves that those in power can get away with anything, the essential contract between leaders and their people will be ruptured for good, says Jonathan Lis
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Above and Beyond the Law: ‘Partygate’ has Fatally Exposed Britain’s Political System
In a succession of scandals, Boris Johnson has opened the floodgates to wrongdoing and impunity by politicians like never before – aided by his lawless friends in the British press and a sclerotic constitution
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Are the Royals Trapped in a Gilded Cage – Or Is Britain?
Is the Royal Family trapped by Britain’s past or is the problem our inability to conceive of a social order without monarchy?
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How Can We Solve the House of Lords Problem?
John Lubbock speaks to parliamentarians about how the Upper Chamber could be reformed to reflect the modern age
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The Outrageous Attempt to Keep Johnson in Power is Britain’s Insurrection
Those still supporting the Prime Minister are engaging in a flagrant attack on British democracy and its constitution, says Brian Cathcart
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Enabling Acts: Citizenship of Quarter of Britons at Risk as Conservatives Construct an Authoritarian Legal Infrastructure
Nafeez Ahmed analyses eight bills which, taken as a whole, reveal an unprecedented and undemocratic ethno-nationalist power grab
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‘Another Country – Not the One I Represented as a Diplomat for 30 Years’
Alexandra Hall Hall, who resigned from the Foreign Office over Brexit lies, now thinks the British malaise is much deeper than that or Boris Johnson
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Liars Policing the Truth: How Johnson Has Exploited the System
Ed Brown explains how vague protocols and informal codes of conduct have been ruthlessly manipulated by the Prime Minister
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When it Comes to Undermining Judicial Independence, are the Conservatives Looking East?
Proposals to allow Government to overrule judicial review findings reflect a growing authoritarian tendency in the Conservatives – just look at Poland and Hungary
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Former Conservative Justice Secretary Condemns Johnson’s Plan to Curtail Rule of Law
David Gauke believes that a proposal to retrospectively overrule Supreme Court decisions stems from the Prime Minister’s view that any constraint on his power is “intolerable”
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Boris Johnson and Poland’s Prime Minister Find ‘Common Cause’ in European Justice Row
The call between Johnson and Prime Minister Mateus Morawiecki noted shared troubles with the European Court of Justice, prompting worries about threats to judicial independence in both nations
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Light and Shadows: Law-Makers and Populist Attacks – A Transatlantic Comparison
Amid the multiple similarities between the populism of Donald Trump and Brexit, Peter Jukes and Heidi Siegmund Cuda look at the stark differences between the way in which the UK Parliament and the US Congress deal with threats to democracy
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Johnsonian Policy: The Lord of Misrule
Professor Chris Painter looks at the Government’s unprecedented and unilaterist policy-making and the dire implications for the quality of UK governance
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The Death of the Last Good Chap
Why do those in positions of power now evade accountability despite numerous examples of incompetence, dangerous liaisons, lies, and even corruption at the heart of Boris Johnson’s Government? Because the British political system allows them to, says Gavin Esler
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‘Dancing Queen?’: The Fixed Term Parliaments Act and the Return of the Royal Prerogative
Historian Robert Saunders considers the constitutional consequences of a new bill which transfers the power to dissolve Parliament to the Crown and removes checks on the Prime Minister
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Subverting the ‘Will of the People’: How Brexit Sowed the Wind
Chris Grey explores the forces unleashed by Brexit and how they reveal the weaknesses of Britain’s unwritten Constitution – vulnerable in its reliance on norms and conventions to deliver representative democracy
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‘What is he Doing for his Wage?’: Lord Philip Hammond’s Revolving Door Continues
ust two years after leaving office, the former Chancellor and life peer is now free to lobby the Government on behalf of businesses registered in tax havens and set up by Conservative peers
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‘Good Chaps’ Left the Building a While Ago, Britain – It’s Time to Wake Up
Hardeep Matharu argues that Labour MP Dawn Butler’s removal from the House of Commons after calling Boris Johnson a ‘liar’ finally exposed the structural failings at the heart of the British state
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Boris Johnson Halts Update to Government Conduct ‘Bible’
The Cabinet Manual is 10 years out of date, yet the Prime Minister has shelved plans to refresh it, reports David Hencke
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The Death Of Convention
Stephen Colegrave considers how Boris Johnson has used the vagueness and vulnerability of Britain’s unwritten constitution to erode democracy
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The Sidelining of Parliament During the Twin Crises of COVID and Brexit Could Set A Dangerous Precedent
With a highly virulent new strain of the Coronavirus circulating rapidly and a hard Brexit imminent, why have MPs not been recalled to Parliament in this time of national emergency?
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Will the End of the Queen’s Reign be Britain’s Deepest Crisis Of All?
Chris Grey considers the potential impact on the fabric of the UK of the passing of its head of state, Queen Elizabeth II
