Niall Ferguson: A PM offering to reduce his powers?
[Niall Ferguson is Laurence A Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University www.niallferguson.org.]
Britain’s new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was a day early with his Independence Day celebrations.
Last Tuesday, on July 3, he made one of the most startling statements ever made by a newly installed premier before the House of Commons. Unless my ears mistook me, Mr Brown pledged to transform the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland into the United States of Britain.
Opinion polls such as the Pew Global Attitudes survey continue to testify to widespread anti-American feeling among British voters. Mr Brown himself has already hinted that he will pursue a less slavishly pro-American foreign policy than his predecessor Tony Blair.
Yet the “new British constitutional settlement” Mr Brown promised last week owes an unmistakable debt to the American system.
Even more remarkable, no one so much as grumbled. Indeed, the opposition parties’ sole complaint seemed to be that Mr Brown was not going far enough in the direction of Americanising Britain.
My question is: Has anyone in London been to Washington lately? On paper, no doubt, the American constitution looks great. It’s the real-life practice of American government that isn’t quite living up to the founding fathers’ lofty ideals.
Let’s take a closer look at Mr Brown’s speech, which contained no fewer than seven American-inspired initiatives:
1: “For centuries,” declared Mr Brown, the Prime Minister and the Executive “have exercised authority in the name of the monarchy without the people and their elected representatives being consulted”. His aim, by contrast, is to “entrust more power to Parliament and the British people”. Nota Bene: from royal authority to “We, the people”. Remind you of anything?
2: Mr Brown offered to delegate the power to declare war to the House of Commons, albeit on the basis of a resolution rather than a statute (unlike the power to ratify new international treaties, which will also be given to the Commons). Again, this imitates the United States, where (under Article I, Section VIII, of the Constitution) Congress alone has the power to declare war.
3: The Commons will be empowered to hold pre-appointment hearings for public officials such as the chief inspector of prisons, the civil service commissioner and members of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. This is a straight American import....
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
Britain’s new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was a day early with his Independence Day celebrations.
Last Tuesday, on July 3, he made one of the most startling statements ever made by a newly installed premier before the House of Commons. Unless my ears mistook me, Mr Brown pledged to transform the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland into the United States of Britain.
Opinion polls such as the Pew Global Attitudes survey continue to testify to widespread anti-American feeling among British voters. Mr Brown himself has already hinted that he will pursue a less slavishly pro-American foreign policy than his predecessor Tony Blair.
Yet the “new British constitutional settlement” Mr Brown promised last week owes an unmistakable debt to the American system.
Even more remarkable, no one so much as grumbled. Indeed, the opposition parties’ sole complaint seemed to be that Mr Brown was not going far enough in the direction of Americanising Britain.
My question is: Has anyone in London been to Washington lately? On paper, no doubt, the American constitution looks great. It’s the real-life practice of American government that isn’t quite living up to the founding fathers’ lofty ideals.
Let’s take a closer look at Mr Brown’s speech, which contained no fewer than seven American-inspired initiatives:
1: “For centuries,” declared Mr Brown, the Prime Minister and the Executive “have exercised authority in the name of the monarchy without the people and their elected representatives being consulted”. His aim, by contrast, is to “entrust more power to Parliament and the British people”. Nota Bene: from royal authority to “We, the people”. Remind you of anything?
2: Mr Brown offered to delegate the power to declare war to the House of Commons, albeit on the basis of a resolution rather than a statute (unlike the power to ratify new international treaties, which will also be given to the Commons). Again, this imitates the United States, where (under Article I, Section VIII, of the Constitution) Congress alone has the power to declare war.
3: The Commons will be empowered to hold pre-appointment hearings for public officials such as the chief inspector of prisons, the civil service commissioner and members of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. This is a straight American import....