Member

This amendment points to something quite big. The history of your Lordships’ House, and of this Parliament as a whole, shows the evolution of a careful, sometimes hotly contested relationship between Parliament and the monarch. Most of the roles and offices of our state have reflected this. Indeed, the very phrase “Prime Minister”, for example, reflects the fact that the chief executive of the Government is the first Minister of the sovereign. The legitimacy of our institutions depends on respect for this history, and legitimacy, it seems to me, is somewhat under threat today. When we disrespect legitimacy—as Tony Blair did, I think, when he attempted to interfere with another great office, that of Lord Chancellor —we chip away at our legitimacy, rendering our constitution more of a husk and less of a living thing.