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The Cavalier Constitution

Anarchy in the UK?
A nation without rules

Every modern, Western, democratic country has a constitution to keeps its politicians on an acceptable course and to guarantee the freedoms of its people, right? Including the ever-odd United Kingdom? The British Constitution, which we hear so much about in the media, is just another instrument for organising the state and to provide a set of rules by which to judge the behaviour of elected personnel and civil servants. It has been perfected over centuries and is now a remarkable configuration that manages to be both ancient and modern at the same time. It has its feet in medieval absolute kingship but has been thoroughly democratised over the last 200 years. It is the envy of the world. There is just one problem with this: the British Constitution does not exist.

In the following pages, I explain the evidence for this statement. The short “chapters” are arranged sequentially;  but you can read them in any order you like. .

Start with a thought experiment

What is the Cavalier Constitution?

The Cavalier Constitution is the informal, uncodified set of arrangements that has governed Britain for centuries — yet has never been written down in a single authoritative document. It emerged from the upheavals of the seventeenth century, most notably the Restoration of 1660 and the so-called Glorious Revolution of 1688. Understanding it is essential to grasping why Britain’s political settlement remains contested to this day.

Portrait of William III of England
From Restoration to Repression

Contents

1. The Wimbledon Oath: a thought experiment

2. Why are their Lordships still with us?

3. Constitutional Crises

4. Why this matters

5. An improved hypothesis

6. Testing, testing

7. Oxymoronians

8. Criteria for a constitution

9. The creation of a constitution

10. Constitutional concepts

11. Accountability.

12. Who chose, and chooses, in the UK?

13. The Cavalier Constitution

14. The Age of Repression

15. The Mythmakers

16. Constitutional Contrarians

17. Refounding Fathers

18. Republican Monarchy

19. Sources for the status quo

20. Sources Against

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