The recent Royal event has awakened my republican inclinations. I find myself making comments like “if it were up to me I’d have a Gatling gun mounted on Admiralty Arch to strafe the whole family of Neo-Nazis as they paraded down the Mall”. Surprisingly my stance is not universally applauded by Her Majesties Subjects (or British Citizens as I would have it) – but my point gets made. Interestingly, the most frequent support for the monarchy offered is 'the alternative is worse’ argument - which I think is a position of inertial despair if ever there was one. What I find intriguing is the assumption that the UK would automatically move to a situation where the Head of State was an elected or otherwise appointed ‘figure head’ with similar constitutional powers to the monarch (in reality precious few). The ‘alternative is worse’ argument then moves to the final ‘horror’ stage when someone suggests that it could be Tony Blair or Gordon Brown who became president.
Where this argument fails to persuade is its lack of ambition. The presumption is always that the constitutional arrangements would necessarily remain unchanged following the removal of the monarchy. What is wrong with an elected President who presides separately from the legislature, the Houses of Parliament, similar to the US system? Unlike the US and UK systems, we could have leaders elected by the majority of citizens rather than an electoral college (US President) or by a system particular to a political party (Prime Minister) or by feudal inheritance (England). We don’t have to endure another Oliver Cromwell as the alternative to monarchy!
I could be persuaded to stay the executions of the Royal Family particular if the old Dominions wanted to retain the monarch – I think the Queen would look rather fetching in shorts and a Jackaroo hat!
But the major benefit would be that the English would be spared from droning on about how the Queen needs to be saved by God. As far as I can discern, she’s ‘doing very nicely thank you’ on her inherited wealth and the Civil List without the intervention of divine. A relacement song for the English National Anthem could be sought – better options abound.
