Republicanism

We're in the middle of the long Jubilee weekend for Liz's 60 years on the throne and it's been quite fun reading and listening to all the weird and wonderful reasons for ditching the monarchy.  None of the reasons I've heard have convinced me so far and I'll talk about some of the better reasons in a minute.  First, I should come clean and admit I am a bit of a Royalist.  Not in the sense that I've been out waving flags or anything but in the sense that I prefer the Queen to yet another elected politician who is only going to lie to us for a few years then lower tax for a week in a effort to keep his job.  I also played in a sandpit with Prince Charles as a kid, but I haven't let that cloud my judgment.

My favourite 3 reasons to become a republic in no particular order:

1. Their armies fought to obtain and maintain their position
2. They have too much power and are unaccountable
3. They don't serve any function

Now let's have a think about each one in order.

First, I don't remember Liz fighting for her throne.  My understanding is that she is the direct descendent of George I, the first of the Hanoverian monarchs.  While Georgie undoubtedly fought wars to expand his territory in his home land, he did not fight to become King here.  He simply inherited the title on the death of Queen Anne.

Even if HMQ's ancient family were involved in wars to obtain the throne I don't see how that is an argument for abolishing the modern Royal family.  Take that to its extremes and we'll be giving England to the Welsh (who seem to me to be the original Britons before the Saxons, Normans, etc).

Point two is actually a far more powerful arguments and by happy co-incidence almost completely contradicts point three, which is always nice.

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle tells us that we can know the position of a particle or the speed of a particle but you cannot know both with any certainty (sorry hope the sudden change of tack didn't make you seasick).  HMQ's powers are analogous to the uncertainty principle in that we know what the powers are and we know what will happen if they are exercised in the way we expect, but we cannot be certain what would happen if Liz got drunk and tried to use her powers contrary to the will of the elected Government.  If that is correct then Liz both has power and yet has no power.

Let us say that Call Me Dave and his pet Liberal decided to force through an Act of Parliament that abolishes the monarchy.  HM Liz II feels a little hard done by and so when the Bill is presented for Royal Assent she refuses to sign.  What happens next?  There is no precedent that I am aware of for how to proceed.  I suspect; however, that Parliament would suddenly remember that it is supreme and that all is required for a law to be good is for Parliament to say so.  Will the Queen and the Royal family be abolished?  Yes.  So, what happens if the Queen refuses to use her power in the way directed by the Government?  It ceases to exist.  The alternative would be unacceptable to anybody, it would be a return to autocracy and no elected Parliament would allow that to happen.

There is a grey area where the Act of Parliament is less important, say Dave and Nick forced through an Act of Parliament ordering the destruction of all cute kittens and HMQ refused to sign, what then?  In principle the situation is no different, the elected Parliament can either accept a loss of face and almost certain electoral defeat at the next election or they can reform the way in which a Bill becomes and Act.

So, it seems to me that while Liz does appear to have very important and serious powers, those powers are in reality a smoke screen.  They are like a judge who presides of a murder trial and completely believes the defendant to be innocent.  But, the defendant is convicted by the jury.  The trial judge could stand up and walk out of court refusing to do his duty, but in reality unless he wants a swift end to his judicial career (and possibly a criminal conviction for misconduct in judicial office) he has no choice but to impose a life sentence on the man he thinks to be innocent!

Now, let us turn to our final object that the Royals serve no function.  Given what I've already said you might expect me to accept this point.  I don't, obviously, else where would be the fun in writing about it?

The Royal family serve a couple of important functions.  They have a minor impact on tourism.  I say minor because if we exiled them all to Elba tomorrow morning we'd still have all the Royal palaces etc that people really come to see.

I am told that they do serve a very important diplomatic function and that a visit by a member of the Royal family is used as part of the UK's overall diplomatic efforts across the globe.  One thing that is worth saying is that the Foreign Office has a lot of options at its disposal and if they didn't think the Royals did a good job here then they'd stop sending them.  It is a sign of how important the Royals are thought of abroad that the Taliban showed some interest in capturing Prince Harry in Afghanistan... I mean who here would want to capture him??  Put simply, foreigners seem to love our Royal family.  Their governments love to rub shoulders with Royalty to show their domestic audiences how important they are.

What would happen if we abolished the Royals?  For a start we'd have an embarrassing little situation with the money.  Do we put Liz and Phil up in a two-bed semi in Romford and continue using money with her mug on it?  Are we going to print a whole new range of coins and notes?  Maybe we should join the Euro.  Don't even get me started on the stamps.

Who would replace Liz?  As I see it there are two options.  Either a presidential figure or nobody and we just get on sans figure head.  The president would no doubt be yet another politician who has never had a proper job and is completely out of touch with the lives of ordinary people.  At least Liz spent some time working as a mechanic and driver in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during the Second World War.  What was Call Me Dave's last proper job?

That's my opinion anyway feel free to disagree... I'll probably change my mind in a week or two any way.