DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Oath that underpins our democratic system
DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Oath that underpins our democratic system
The British people have always had a strong aversion to being ordered to bend the knee. We accept authority by consent or not at all.
From the Peasants’ Revolt to the Brexit vote, Britons refused to be dictated to by those they deemed illegitimate. And that refusal has preserved our fundamental liberties over centuries.
The embodiment of that spirit is the constitutional monarchy we have today, in which the sovereign rules in principle but in practice is the figurehead of a democratically elected Parliament.
It is a system which has served us supremely well and on Saturday the nation will be invited to endorse it by swearing allegiance to the new King during his Coronation.
No one is being forced or cajoled into joining this ‘Homage of the People’. This is a free country, in which the right to dissent is not only tolerated but enshrined in law.
The coronation of King Charles will take place this weekend on May 6
To some the word homage may jar. It is rather archaic and could be thought to suggest blind obeisance. But the roots of this ceremony are more than a thousand years old. Such language emphasises the monarchy’s extraordinary continuity and adds to the sense of moment. ‘#Charles4King’ wouldn’t have quite the same impact.
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Others may think the oath, or indeed the monarchy itself, has no relevance to their lives. They are mistaken. Charles III is their head of state as well as their King.
There also will be the republicans with their tiresome (and factually incorrect) ‘Not my King’ placards but the opinion polls show them to have little support.
Most people in this country understand that constitutional monarchy is a fair and stable form of government that they don’t want replaced with some form of presidency.
Presidents are always political animals, whose primary duty is to their party or power base. Our sovereign sits above the fray as honest broker and adviser to whoever the people elect. It’s not fanciful to suggest that in a republican system we could easily have had President Blair – or maybe even President Corbyn.
And America may soon have to choose between a cognitively fragile octogenarian and an alleged criminal for its head of state.
Charles III has the hardest of acts to follow but there can be no doubting his integrity or devotion to duty. Swearing the oath of allegiance will galvanise him even further to his awesome task.
The Mail hopes and believes most people wish him every success and will happily join in the symbolic endorsement by swearing – or at least honouring and embracing – the oath of allegiance.
Bigotry of the Left
A grotesque Guardian cartoon which appears to emphasise and ridicule the Jewishness of ex-BBC chairman Richard Sharp exposes the ugly seam of anti-Semitism that runs through the British Left.
It portrays a grinning Sharp carrying a box marked Goldman Sachs, which contains Rishi Sunak’s head and a squid which seems to be holding gold coins. Nearby is an apparently bloodied pig’s head.
Cartoonist Martin Rowson claims Sharp’s Jewishness never ‘crossed my mind as I drew him’ or that the picture would cause such offence and the newspaper has issued a grovelling apology.
A grotesque Guardian cartoon which appears to emphasise and ridicule the Jewishness of ex-BBC chairman Richard Sharp exposes the ugly seam of anti-Semitism that runs through the British Left
Richard Sharp quit as BBC chairman and will leave at the end of June
Yet it must have passed through several senior executives before being published. Did none of them recognise the glaringly obvious anti-Jewish tropes?
After the recent furore over Diane Abbott’s suggestion in the Guardian’s sister paper, the Observer, that Jews don’t really suffer racism, you’d think they might have been more vigilant. Sadly, the Left is so avidly pro-Palestinian that the distinction between opposing Israeli policy and being downright anti-Semitic has become blurred.
For all Sir Keir Starmer’s bluster, it is a form of bigotry Labour has not expunged. And possibly never will.
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