Gove vs the Euro-judges

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[/audioplayer]They have taken to calling themselves the ‘Runnymede Tories’: those Conservative MPs who, knowing that David Cameron has a majority of just 12, want to sabotage his manifesto commitment to end the direct jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights in Britain.

Well, sorry chaps, but that name is taken. The actual Runnymede Tories — that is, the Conservatives elected to Runnymede Borough Council — will be gathering next month on the bank of the Thames to celebrate the anniversary of Magna Carta. They — we, I should say, since I’m closely involved with the project — will be unveiling a large bronze statue of the Queen, symbolising both 800 years of the Crown’s acceptance of the rule of law and the fact that the principles of Magna Carta have been disseminated, during the present monarch’s reign, across many continents and archipelagos.

The statue will be unveiled by the Speaker of the House of Commons because, in this country, constitutional freedom has always been bound up with parliamentary supremacy. Magna Carta, uniquely in its time, contained its own enforcement mechanism. Instead of leaving future sovereigns to interpret its provisions, it created a form of conciliar government which evolved directly into the Parliament that meets at Westminster today.

Next week, the flesh-and-blood Queen will come before that Parliament to unveil her government’s programme. Among other things, she will announce its intention to scrap the Human Rights Act, which gives direct effect to the rulings of the Strasbourg court in Britain. An unprecedented Kultur-kampf will follow. The new Justice Secretary, Michael Gove, will call forces into the field against him that make the educationalists who opposed him before look like primary school children.

The origins of the row go back to 1998, when Tony Blair decided to place the European Court of Human Rights at the apex of the British legal system.