Admissions first. I am, and have been for as long as I can remember, a republican. I have never been convinced by the value of the royal head of state, as it has helped to retain heredity as an unjustified route to authority and power.
Nothing personal though. I have nothing against the queen herself, or most of her extended family. With the possible exception of a son who is less than judicious in his choice of friends and party buddies, and a husband who clung to the concept of colonial superiority a bit too long.
But overall, nothing personal. The principle however has always struck me as an anachronism, and one that should have been quietly put out to gentle pasture some time ago. And this week has confirmed it.
Because, if I understand it correctly – and that could be a big if – as the head of state, there are still a few residual spanners that can be put in the works ‘at her majesty’s pleasure’.
This week, the egocentric and delusional buffoon that is our Prime Minister asked the queen to allow him to suspend parliament.
And she said yes.
Just for a moment consider what would have happened if she had said no.
Would there have been bellows of horror, declarations of a constitutional crisis? And from whom would they have come?
The Brexit brigades have based their campaign on the sovereignty of the UK, with the queen as the figure head. Would the Johnsons, Rees-Moggs and Farages cry foul in unison? Or would they be forced to think again about their charge over the precipice?
Because, republican that I am, I know the one thing that would unite this country would be an attack on the monarchy, and the queen in particular.
Even if only a temporary pause for thought, it would have been a chance to draw breath and reassess, rethink and realise that things are going too far.
And one little word was all that was needed.
But as a servant of the accepted interpretation of an unwritten constitution, the queen abided by convention, and said yes.
And so the farce charges for the edge. The opposition are struggling for consistency, and the monarchy aspect of this distorted structure we term democracy have proved their lack of value.
Nice people, mostly, but nothing else.
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