In the lead up to the EU referendum vote last June, and in the months that have followed, it has been stimulating to witness so many people talking about politics, especially British parliamentary sovereignty. This sovereignty has evolved over centuries, but we have a government whose agenda appears to be turning the clock back to the time of Henry VIII.
In 1539, that old despot persuaded a spineless Parliament to pass the Statute of Proclamations giving his decisions the same force as acts of the legislature. His fondness for divorces resulted in a shameless and disgraceful constitutional fettering of Parliament. In trying to lead the UK’s divorce from the EU, Theresa May appears to be channelling a monarch who was willing to do anything to get himself out of the tight spot he had put himself into.
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