I was trying to frame some thoughts about the recently emerged situation with the Speaker of the House of Commons and the police raid. And then I realised, I don’t really have any coherent thoughts about this. I know so very little about the emergence of British Parliamentary Democracy, and what I do know is all in bits and pieces. I know I’m interested in it, but I don’t really know anything about it.
So now I know I’m pretty horrified at the teaching of history and civics in British schools – and indeed at university. The survey courses I took before specialising at honours completely skipped the English Civil War, skimmed over the Restoration, featured a bit part by the Glorious Revolution before mostly ignoring the arrival of the Hannoverian monarchs in favour of dealing with the international wars of the eighteenth century. And nineteenth century history was mostly social history – but yet not really featuring the Reform Laws at all.
However, that doesn’t really help me improve my knowledge. So if someone could recommend me a good book or two on the subject for starters I’d be grateful.
But back to the present crisis. ‘Tis interesting – and not just in a ‘last week on The Devil’s Whorethe Speaker told the King to sod off because he wasn’t giving up his MPs’ kind of way (incidentally, I’ve not seen this week’s Devil’s Whore yet, so no spoilers…) But I like the idea of the Speaker as kind of the guardian and guide of the House of Commons.
I was also interested that the cabinet members I’ve heard on the radio are being very careful to avoid criticising the Speaker – and not only in a ‘we don’t really care that the Tory MP got arrested’ way, but also in a ‘don’t want to criticise a key element of the parlimentary system’ way. Which is doubly interesting because Labour have been busily getting rid of the Lord Chancellor, but the Speaker is safe.
But mostly, it’s interesting because you could – if you were careful – criticise the man but not the office: “The Speaker should be doing this [xyz] but Michael Martin did not, and therefore he’s not a good Speaker.” Which would make the man the problem, not the office he holds. I’m not saying that this should be done, or that this is the case now, but that you could. And that Labour aren’t suggests they might not be too concerned about problem with police raiding the palace of Westminster, and making off with documents and MPs belonging to the Tory party. I wonder what their response would have been if they were the opposition? Or what the Tory response would have been if such an action had been carried out during the Cash-for-Honours affair?
