Category Archives: Uncategorized

Speaker Bercow’s Trump Remarks Land Him In Hot Water

Posted on February 14, 2017 by

The BBC reports that a Conservative backbencher has launched a bid to remove John Bercow from the Speaker’s chair after he said that Donald Trump should not address Parliament in Westminster Hall when he pays a state visit to the United Kingdom. … Continue reading →

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Government Loses Brexit Case

Posted on January 24, 2017 by

In a widely expected ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that the Government cannot trigger Article 50 without Parliament’s consent. I won’t go over the ruling in detail, as I’ve already discussed it here and here. Suffice it to say, I think the Supreme Court … Continue reading →

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Government Ditches Plans To Curb Lords’ Powers

Posted on November 23, 2016 by

In a move that should surprise no one, the Government has decided that it will not try to abolish the House of Lords’ veto over statutory instruments. While the Parliament Act 1911 removed the Lords’ veto over Acts of Parliament, it did not make … Continue reading →

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Are MPs Really A Threat To Brexit?

Posted on November 5, 2016 by

In the aftermath of the High Court’s Brexit ruling, many Leavers have expressed their fears that pro-EU MPs will try to wreck Brexit if given the chance. But is Parliament really a threat to Brexit? It’s true that the overwhelming majority of … Continue reading →

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First Thoughts On Brexit

Posted on June 24, 2016 by

The United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union. It was a close vote–52% voted to leave and 48% voted to stay. I have mixed feelings about the outcome. As a scholar of the British constitution, I’m glad that Britain has … Continue reading →

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Why I Haven’t Said Anything About Brexit

Posted on June 23, 2016 by

A lot of people have asked me if I have an opinion on the Brexit referendum. I invariably disappoint them because the answer is that I simply don’t know how I would vote. On the one hand, I do like … Continue reading →

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Some Thoughts On The Strathclyde Review

Posted on December 26, 2015 by

Lord Strathclyde has published his review of the powers of the House of Lords in relation to secondary legislation. The TL;DR of it is that the peers’ absolute veto should be replaced with a suspensory veto. David Cameron commissioned the Strathclyde Review after the Lords rejected the … Continue reading →

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Prince Charles’ Reading Material

Posted on December 19, 2015 by

There’s been another dust-up over the Prince of Wales’ role in government: the release of certain sections of the Cabinet Office Precedent Book has shown that he automatically receives papers from the Cabinet and ministerial committees. Unsurprisingly, this ‘revelation’ has provoked outrage from the usual … Continue reading →

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Why Did The Queen Hold A Privy Council At Heathrow?

Posted on November 26, 2015 by

My recent article on the Privy Council led a reader to ask: What’s the story behind the Privy Council meeting at Heathrow? The meeting took place on September 16, 1998 when the Queen was en route to Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia. The only … Continue reading →

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Government’s Anti-Bercow Plot Fails

Posted on March 26, 2015 by

The Government’s eleventh-hour attempt to change the rules governing the re-election of the Speaker of the House of Commons has failed. They wanted to allow a secret ballot if a returning Speaker’s candidacy is challenged, and this was widely seen as an attempt to … Continue reading →

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