Hanged in a fortnight….

The above portrait is of Doctor Samuel Johnson by Joshua Reynolds. Doctor Johnson is famously quoted thus: “….Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully….” Messrs. Brown, Blair, Miliband and Straw take note, and be grateful that hanging was abolished for capital crimes (of which High Treason is one) many years ago.
Today, Tuesday, 17th November, 2009 should for Messrs. Blair, Straw, Brown and Miliband be an auspicious day, but it is very doubtful that they would acknowledge this fact. That is because in fourteen days (a fortnight) it will be Tuesday, 1st December, 2009. This is the day when the recently ratified Treaty of Lisbon will become effective. On that day, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – founded on New Year’s Day, Thursday, 1st January, 1801 – will formerly become a vassal state of a new international sovereign and legal entity, namely the European Union. The European Union will on that day become a state in its own right possessing its own legal personality and, inter alia, its own Sovereign Powers. It will have its own Corps Diplomatique – as do all other sovereign states from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe (unfortunate examples we know but they happen to be at the beginning and the end of the alphabetical list!)
On that day, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, By the Grace of God (but not Messrs. Blair, Straw, Brown and Miliband) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will formerly become a suzerain monarch of the European Union. She will share this fate with the other monarchs in the European Union, these being the monarch’s of Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
The fate of these monarchies are not the concern of the British Gazette, but the fate of the British monarchy most certainly is. In these days of parlous economic times there may be many on the centre and the left of British Politics who may question the value and the usefulness of the British monarchy. We at the British Gazette would agree for the actions – this should be inactions – of the present Queen have led us to the dire straits we are now in. Those who would counter this statement with one such as “…it is not the Queen’s fault – she stays out of politics….” Whilst essentially correct does not contradict or invalidate the former statement. Herewith an explanation: in theory, the value of the monarchy lies not in the fact that ultimate sovereign power is in the hands of Elizabeth of Windsor but in that fact that this power does not lie elsewhere (Messrs. Blair, Straw, Brown and Miliband). And there you see the problem: it is precisely because the Queen has not acted as a constitutional block that the U.K. is in the position it is in. What the Queen should have done was to accept the advice of some of her advisers who had pointed out that the European Communities Act of 1972 amounted to a de-facto breach of the British Constitution – namely the Bill of Rights, the Coronation Oath Act, 1953 and every Privy Council oath taken to date and that if the government wished to proceed they would have to address the legalities. This would mean a “constitutional convention” by all the estates of the realm (Parliament and Monarch and the British people via a referendum) to amend/repeal the Treaty which is the Bill of Rights to permit the imposition of a higher authority in the realm – namely the European Community. Of course the Prime Minister of the day, the arch traitor Heath would not have done this as he would have known that he could not more have gotten the acceptance of this by the British People than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could obtain an invitation from Binyamin Netanyahu to attend his grandson’s (Shmuel Netanyahu-Roth) 1st birthday party on 2nd October, 2010.
By acting thus the Queen would not have become involved in party politics, she would have been merely doing her job of abiding by the constitution (the rules). Had she made statements that were critical to the Heath administration’s plan to make the UK a member of the EC this would have been party political and would have been wrong. Had she made statements that were supportive of the Heath administration’s plan to make the UK a member of the EC this too would have been party political and would have been wrong.
That was then however. We are where we are. The question is: What do we do about it ?
There is still hope. But this hope no longer resides within the borders of the U.K. It lies outside.
This is because Elizabeth of Windsor is the queen regnant of fifteen independent sovereign states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. She holds each crown separately and equally in a shared monarchy, as well as acting as Head of the Commonwealth, suzerain monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Duke of Normandy, Lord of Man, and Paramount Chief of Fiji.
In the two world wars of the twentieth century, the dominions and the colonies came to the aid of the mother country with blood and treasure. Today the “mother country” again requires help – but not in these terms. It is not blood or treasure we need from these other realms but lawyers! Or more accurately, judges.
What the Queen has to do now is to address the issue of the vassal status of the U.K. indirectly – through the Governor Generals of these sovereign realms. This should be done through the Commonwealth. Why should the Commonwealth become involved you ask ? It really is very simple. The Commonwealth is a free association of INDEPENDENT SOVEREIGN STATES. If a state ceases to become independent its membership of the Commonwealth is legitimately open to question. Why you ask ? This too is really very simple. If a state is no longer independent but is to be controlled by a foreign power (that is a power outside the Commonwealth) then the Commonwealth is faced with a situation where a foreign (non Commonwealth power) has influence and a vote at the table. This is unacceptable!
What the Commonwealth has to do is to EXAMINE the situation before pronouncing. This is to be done by those fifteen nations that are the realms of Elizabeth of Windsor setting up a joint ROYAL COMMISSION composed of senior judges in these realms to examine and adjudicate on the issue of the U.K.’s constitutional status. These judges would take evidence – under oath – from witnesses and make their judgement. If the U.K. is found to be a vassal state and Elizabeth of Windsor a suzerain monarch then the U.K. can only continue as a Commonwealth member holding Observer Status.
Please note, it will not be long before the United Nations will evaluate the position of the 27 vassal states of the European Union – and in particular the status of France and the U.K. both of whom continue to possess permanent seats on the Security Council. Emerging countries like Brazil, China and India will no doubt question the situation where these nations are legally and constitutionally bound to:
“….The Union’s competence in matters of common foreign and security policy shall cover all areas of foreign policy and all questions relating to the Union’s security, including the progressive framing of a common defence policy, which might [means will] lead to a common defence….”
“….Member [vassal] States shall actively and unreservedly support the Union’s common foreign and security policy in a spirit of loyalty and mutual solidarity and shall comply with the acts adopted by the Union in this area. They shall refrain from action contrary to the Union’s interests or likely to impair its effectiveness….”