From the Queen’s Speech to Old Corruption
The Queen’s Speech- the State Opening of a new session of Parliament took place today. The Queen was indisposed so it was read in person by Prince Charles. The Royal Crown was conveyed separately to Westminster…
Guardian journalist Owen Jones tweeted that the Speech showed the Government had no ideas beyond holding on to power itself. Given the at best unpleasant ideas that come from members of the Cabinet that may be no bad thing. The speech was notable for not announcing a long Employment Bill and not honouring an earlier proposed ban on foie gras which will ban enthusiast Rees Mogg. What was there was yet another attempt by Priti Patel to criminalise protests which she has been trying to do for a long time.
However there is a serious point in holding on to power itself. With that comes the potential at some point for personal profit and the ability to offer sinecures in terms of contracts and official positions to one’s friends or those one wants for some reason to influence.
That may all sound somewhat pre-democratic, and it is. It is in fact the politics of Old Corruption that so annoyed William Cobbett in the 1820s and the process of replacing with democratic accountability was started by the 1832 Reform Act.
The current Government is sometimes said to want to return Britain to the 1950s. It wants to go much further back than that- to the pre-1830s. There is one problem. Had the 1832 Act not been passed Britain faced one of the most serious threats of revolution it has seen to date…
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