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The Assertion of British Sovereignty - UK Conservatism Conference - Oxford

3 December 2005

Mrs Lynn Riley 26^th November 2005

Introduction

Speaking first Mrs Riley said:

We are starting at the end today, because I am addressing HOW to reassert British democratic sovereignty. For the rest of the day eminent speakers will crystallize WHY we must do so.

Norris McWhirter, who is sadly missed today, said of the de facto constitutional crisis in which we find ourselves; 'The problem is incredible – people simply cannot credit the great abdication that has taken place' – well the solution is incredible too! So simple that people simply cannot credit it!

For convenience I will start at the beginning of the end and at the end of the end you can decide whether the solution proposed is CREDIBLE. So let's take a fresh look at the principles through the eyes of a golfer – which I now am!! Well – I call it golf!

My tutor Craig, a longsuffering and patient man, is the Oracle … and he says:

1. 'When things go wrong – go back to basics'

Basics

· The true sovereigns in a democracy are the People.

· Parliament exercises our sovereignty for a fixed period - then it reverts to us.

· It is only a democracy if:

i. you can sack your law-makers

ii. Law-makers are themselves individually subject to the laws they make

· Parliament can propose, enact and repeal laws or it is not a Parliament but an assembly.

· The laws parliament enacts bind the people but parliament cannot bind itself. The great Constitutional statutes bind parliament e.g. they must enact lawfully.

· So the British triangle of power is inverted with The People at the top, then Parliament (comprised of our directly elected representatives who wield our supreme power and DECIDE), then Government which has a mandate to govern according to their manifesto and instruct the civil service, who run the country and are our 'obedient servants,' at the bottom of the pile. The Germans would be astonished and the French apoplectic!

· The role of the Whips is to consult our MPs and deliver the bad news to Downing Street rather than to take orders from Downing Street and bully MPs - the representatives of the Sovereigns - as is currently the case.

What went wrong?

1. The building of a successful constitution involves balancing powers. Concentrate power unaccountably or divorce authority from responsibility then you fail. Totalitarians in every generation seek loopholes to exploit, and our Glorious Constitution is the culmination of democrats outwitting totalitarians for 800 years. That is why it is so sophisticated and precious – 800 years of research and development!

2. The failure we have experienced has been anticipated for centuries.

§ Lord Burleigh said 'England could never be ruined but by a parliament'

§ Sir Matthew Hale said 'This (parliament) being the highest and greatest court over which none other can have jurisdiction in the Kingdom, if by any means a misgovernment should fall upon it, the subjects of this kingdom are left without all manner of remedy'

§ Montesquieu observed that 'as Rome, Sparta and Carthage have lost their liberty and perished, so the constitution of England will in time lose it's liberty – it will perish whenever the legislative power shall become more corrupt than the executive'

There was no universal suffrage in those times, so while they were aware of the problem, they did not have the weapon that the BDI deploys to block this loophole, i.e. The Power of the People.

· So to destroy a democratic country the legislature must be corrupted – under duress if necessary. MPs must be made to break their Oath of Allegiance yet be protected from the wrath of the electorate. This can only be done and has been done by marching both governing and opposition parties (the viable alternatives) in step so that they do not challenge each other on the hustings and the electorate are thus deprived of a means of expressing themselves. Protest parties offering this option do not present a viable alternative.

· It is sobering that the IRA would not break an oath and so refused to take it at the cost of forgoing their seats in the House. Below I cite two examples of MPs (with less honour than the IRA contingent) breaking their Oath:

1. Lord Stafford of Stafford – the former Tony Banks - takes the Oath of Allegiance to the "Queen in Parliament" (i.e. The British People) with his fingers crossed.

2. An extract from Constitution Amendment (Pledge of Loyalty) Bill - 07/04/2005 - 2Rhome;Hansard & Papers; Legislative Assembly; 07/04/2005; From the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Hansard

MR ALAN ASHTON: .. if I did not sign the oath of loyalty I could not take my place on council.
MR ANTHONY ROBERTS: Why did you sign it?

MR ALAN ASHTON: I had no choice. There was no value or sincerity in my signature. That is the situation that applies here today. You have to sign it or you cannot be here.
MR ANTHONY ROBERTS: Did you perjure yourself?

MR ALAN ASHTON: Yes, quite simply, of course I did. That is why we are changing the Constitution.

Source: Philip Benwell, Australian Monarchist League

2. Back to golf: Craig says: 'Keep your eye on the ball'

Ask yourself 'Where is the power?'

· Only Parliament can pass the Bill that is required to reassert the Sovereignty of the British People.

· We must assemble a majority for that Bill so it is passed when presented. It must only be presented when it can be passed. Empty gestures are not enough.

· The BDI Bill will impliedly repeal the European Communities Act and any other infringement of the right of the British people to make their laws. The only challenge to the BDI Bill is that it does not explicitly repeal the ECA (this 'Constitutional Statute' Justice Laws Metric Martyrs case) but that challenge is snookered because in the same action it would be proved that the ECA is itself illegally enacted and has no force in this country because it did not explicitly repeal the great Constitutional Statutes it contradicts.

Dictionary definition of 'EXPLICIT'

(Of declarations etc) Distinctly expressing all that is meant, leaving nothing merely implied. Expressly

· Either way we recover the British Constitution.

We flip the switch on the ratchet and do what Heath did in reverse; Marshal a cross party majority to enact this Bill. This is the political solution to the constitutional problem - tried and tested. We know it works because that is precisely how we ended up in the present situation when it worked for Heath.

Every other issue, every other Parliamentary debate, every other campaign – and I have a list of over 100 organisations here – are tackling the political symptoms and not the constitutional cause. No symptom can be cured in isolation. Norris McWhirter rightly observed: You cannot have an unfettered part of a fettered whole. There is a lot of political work to do, but we cannot even address these grievances before the BDI Bill is successfully enacted.

3. Craig says 'Get a grip'

The people must get a grip on their democratic representatives:

Presently the Party establishments control the selection and careers of MPs.
By that means they have broken the link between Constituent and MP from which MPs used to draw their legitimacy and strength.
MPs fear that by signing the BDI and committing irrevocably to present and vote for the BDI Bill, that it is taking power over them. Quite the reverse - The BDI restores the MP/Constituent link thereby strengthening MPs against the party whipping system.
Until there is a majority of MPs signed up, they are vulnerable to 'The Cull'. So we must defend our friends in parliament by maintaining confidentiality until they are in sufficient numbers to call the shots.
But those who refuse to sign and refuse to support the principle of democratic sovereignty will be identified for the electorate to 'Cull'.
Our objective is to marshall a sufficient number to enable them to campaign on the issue at the next general election. The electorate must have a viable choice on the most critical issue in politics – Who rules Britain?

We dictate the agenda which we argue positively - A CELEBRATION OF OUR SOVEREIGNTY, DEMOCRACY AND CONSTITUTION. Let the opponents of that be the 'NO Campaign' and let's see how many votes they get!

4. Craig says 'Always follow through'

The most important electoral issue is the one of TRUST. 40% of the British electorate no longer vote in general elections because they have lost trust in all politicians and no longer believe in this democratic charade, where those we elect take orders from those we do NOT. Whoever can command the trust of the people will win! Ironically signing the BDI – so that they don't have to be 'taken on trust' – is the key to commanding respect and recovering trust. Individual MPs on both sides of the House want to be real MPs in a real Parliament rather than whipping posts in a Sham! We must make it easy for them to sign and gain the courage of their convictions. No mea culpa is necessary. Nobody cares what politicians say anymore as we know they will say anything! We need a solution not an apology!

The BDI is a yes/no question. It forces candidates to stand on their true platform. Without it voters are unable to distinguish between individual candidates who will commit to exercising their sovereignty and those who just sound as if they will (the latter have cleverly learned the words from the former). So voters have been able to protest against parties but only individual candidates can be made answerable to them.

British MPs have always been consistent in declaring that no sovereignty has been lost. This suits us – all we want is that assertion confirmed in a Bill.

Heath: In 1972 "There is no question of eroding any national sovereignty;…some in this country who fear that … we shall sacrifice independence and sovereignty. These fears, I need hardly say, are completely unfounded".

· David Cameron 2005:"British citizens are free men and women, able to do what they like unless it harms others or is explicitly forbidden"

That is what the BDI confirms. What objection can there possibly be to signing and voting for it? The BDI alone solves more than the narrow EU issue – it resolves all sovereignty issues.

5. Craig says 'What we want to achieve is a free and easy swing'

Boy do the Tories need a swing! And if you try too hard you never achieve it – contorting to please others is a recipe for disaster. Power comes effortlessly or not at all. I know, I have hit hundreds of buckets of golf balls!

· By signing the BDI candidates of the major parties make voting for a protest party unnecessary. By not signing they give protest parties (and abstentions) a electoral reason for standing and a consequent massive electoral boost. But as a small party cannot hold the balance of power against a governing and opposition party that agree, BDI signatories from the main parties should be welcomed as a success by UKIP supporters. Politics is about getting your own way and they will have got theirs if they return BDI candidates.

· 'The Chiltern Hundreds clause'

The last paragraph in the BDI reads:

… Should I not fulfil the terms of this Agreement when the BDI Bill is presented in Parliament, I will immediately resign so that a by-election may be held and a new mandate obtained for the remainder of the Parliament.'

Some MPs cite this as a deterrent to their signing. But the electorate now requires a real reassurance commensurate with the real deception that has been attempted. Read the spontaneous comments obtained from the mailing for this Conference printed below! There is a mighty problem to be addressed.

In any case The Declaration asks no more than the Oath of Allegiance (it spells out the detailed meaning of that Oath – an educational experience for most MPs!) and there will be electoral retribution for those who sign and break the commitment anyway. As we know the electorate have no compunction in sacking MPs and Governments. This clause is a great defence for MPs against bullying Whips.

Voters opinions expressed in response to invitations to this conference:

The Tory Party should do the honourable thing and take us out of the mess that Heath took us in to. 33 years of deception.

Members of my family fought and some died in two wars to defend what they thought was their country WHY? I feel very bitter about this.

I could not trust either of the main parties. I just cannot understand why the Tory Party would want to follow a socialist agenda…….

The Conservative Party will never be in Government until they get rid of the' full of their own importance, there for the money types' and get people who will listen to their constituents.

I am 52 years old and always voted Conservative until the party adopted a pro European stance. I am fiercely opposed to the idea that those who I have not voted for can tell me what I can and cannot do in my own country.

The choice facing Heseltine, Clarke, Maude and other Europhiles was to allow the 80% of eurosceptic Conservatives to prevail - or to wreck the party. They chose the latter.

Of policies we have heard nothing save for David Davis whose speeches are contemptuously reviled by the so-called Tory press.

Self interest and ignorance at the top of the party prevents the acknowledgement of the true facts. We need someone of the integrity of Lord Tebbit to lead a new party thus leaving deceivers isolated in Victoria Street (Conservative Central Office).

Conclusion

The British people have abandoned the two main political parties in Britain because they know that neither, in government, implements an independent agenda. When the people again support (and therefore fund) our two great parties – those parties will no longer be reliant on the collective and corporate donors for money as they have been for too long now. At that point I believe Conservatism and true capitalism will once again triumph!

A Challenge:

Ask the eminent speakers who follow for a solution. If they have none ask why they don't overtly support the BDI?
Please pledge your vote, on our website (www.bdicampaign.org) ONLY to candidates who sign the BDI and ask your friends and relations to do so too. The election currency is VOTES.
Organisations - We want them to agree that the method chosen by them to achieve such a constitutional law is to support (by recommending candidates sign and that the Tory Party endorses) the BDI.

So - I have told you how to save the Country and the secrets of golf!

There simply is nothing more!!