The Queen's Private Secretary

Most of the key players in the British constitutional system are well known. The leading members of the Executive are the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. The current list can be found here. Details of senior civil servants can be found here. Members of the Legislature are listed at Parliament's website. The Supreme Court, which is the highest court of the judicial system has a very informative website which can be accessed here.

The British Constitution is not set out in a single document. Many key 'rules' are known as conventions. These have been described as non-legally binding (in other words they would not be enforced by the Courts) - but which the political actors regard themselves as bound by. For example it is now a convention that the Queen will sign any bill presented to her which has been passed by both Houses of Parliament. If she failed to do so, she could not be ordered to sign by a Court, but - if asked - the Queen would say that she has no alternative but to sign.

What happens if a constitutional crisis arises? Who would sort things out? The key to understanding the British constitution is that such crises would be resolved - not by a legal solution (for example in the USA the Supreme Court might be regarded as the final arbiter in a dispute over the Constitution) - but by a political solution.

When there was controversy over Edward VIII's proposed marriage to a divorcee (1936) - or when there was a constitutional crisis over the House of Lords blocking the Budget (1909-10) - the key political actors, between themselves, sorted out a solution.

One individual who has often played a key role is the Private Secretary to the Monarch. Vernon Bogdanor devotes a whole chapter of his 1995 book "The Monarchy and the Constitution" to this office holder. He claims that "the office...has become crucial to the working of constitutional monarchy in Britain." It is a chapter worth reading!

The official description of the post on the UK Monarchy's website can be accessed here. The photograph accompanying this post is that of Lord Knollys - Private Secretary to Edward VII and George V.

Flying - with less hassle

I've already booked my next flight to Washington DC. As usual I will be avoiding travelling through the centre of London and Heathrow Airport. My preferred airport is Birmingham International. There are good rail links from Milton Keynes (and most other places in the UK) as well as being at the centre of the UK's motorway system. I was told by an American friend that the airport should stress that while the rail station is not technically part of the airport - it is in fact much closer than many airport's train stations. The Air-Rail link takes less than 2 minutes from the station to the terminal.

As yet there is no direct flight between BHX and any of the Washington airports. Continental fly to Newark (CO 27 to USA; CO 26 from USA) , where there are connecting flights to Dulles and National Airports. My favoured alternative is to fly from Birmingham to a continental European Airport (Schiphol, Amsterdam; Paris or Frankfurt).

Election Day

Once again it's the "Tuesday after the first Monday in November". The New York Times explained why that date had become "Election Day" in an article published on 1st November 1910 -

"The State of New York in 1841 was the first to adopt "Tuesday after the first Monday in November" as its election day. Most of the States at that time held their elections on the first Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday in November. The congressional act of March 1, 1792, had prescribed that elections for Presidential electors be held "within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December, every fourth year."... The quadrennial election day was made uniform after a act was passed in 1845. Originally the date was to be the first Tuesday in November - but this amended when it was realised that the 1792 act would also need to be amended because, in some years the first Tuesday in November would be outside the 34 day period."

Elections are being held today in

California 10th District - Special Election for House of Representatives seat.

New York 23rd District - Special Election for House of Representatives seat.

New Jersey - gubernatorial and General Assembly elections.

Virginia - gubernatorial and House of Delegates elections.

There are also gubernatorial and state legislature elections in the Northern Mariana Islands (a terrority) and numerous municipal elections throughout the USA.

I will of course, as ever, be watching the results in Fairfax County, Northern Virginia (from the UK - but I'll check online the following morning - I don't intend to stay up all night watching as I have in the past! - I have to be in Westminster early on Wednesday). You can see a sample ballot for Virginia's District 44 here.

John Bright MP

Just over 151 years ago (October 27th 1858) the new MP for Birmingham , John Bright made his first speech in a campaign for parliamentary reform. He sought to reduce “the fabric of privilege” by campaigning for the vote for all working men.

As G.M. Trevelyan noted: “That great audience swayed, like a cornfield beneath the wind, under the gusts of cheering and laughter that shook them as he spoke... And the magic that swayed them was not some hard appeal to the lower part of their nature, but drew its compelling virtue from the simplest invocation of moral principles in words which survive the speaker as part of the wealth of our mother tongue. No class ever had nobler teaching than the working men of this island during the years while Bright was their champion.”

Bright’s belief in political freedom and reform inspired both Abraham Lincoln and Joseph Chamberlain

Bill Cash, a Tory MP I agree with on hardly anything, save this, made these points (edited - I have removed the europhobic comments with which his comments are usually laden)

So if Bright were alive today what would he be fighting for? His absolute priority would be to restore respect and authority to the Commons. The man who coined the phrase “the Mother of Parliaments” believed that the most precious thing that a person possessed was the right to vote for the laws that governed him and his country. ...

Bright's first allegiance was to his conscience. He would have no truck with the modern whips system and the surrender of parliamentary business to the executive, nor the fixing of timetables to prevent debate....

... We need the spirit of John Bright to walk the corridors of Westminster again.

The Carl Albert Center

The University of Oklahoma established the Center in 1979 in honour of one of its alumini, who was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1971-77. At 5 feet 4 inches tall, Albert was often affectionately known as the "Little Giant from Little Dixie". On his way to that top job he was House Majority Whip (1955-62) and Majority Leader (1962-71).

The archives at the center contain a number of important collections - including those of Helen Gahagan Douglas (a liberal who was the first victim of a Nixon smear campaign); Senator Robert S Kerr; Senator Fred Harris (Harris' run for the Presidency in 1976 had at least two unusual features. For one, in order to keep expenses down, he traveled the country in a RV and stayed in private homes, giving his hosts a card which was to be redeemable for one night's stay in the White House upon his election. For another, he placed unusual stress on issues affecting the working class.) and Dick Armey (House Majority Leader 1995-2003). A link to the archives can be found here.

The Center produces a journal which can be accessed online called Extensions. It has included a number of interesting articles.

The Center's website is http://www.ou.edu/carlalbertcenter/