Lord Hannan of Kingsclere is a Conservative peer, writer and columnist. He was a Conservative MEP from 1999 to 2020, and is now President of the Initiative for Free Trade.
My friend David Gauke wrote a provocative essay for ConHome on Monday. He began with the uncontentious assertion that the rule of law is central to what we are about as a country.
He then went on to argue that this Government has a problem with the rule of law, citing three examples of its supposedly cavalier attitude: Partygate, the Northern Ireland Protocol, and the Rwanda asylum plan.
Ill come to the three charges in a moment. But first, I hope we can all agree with the Gawksters opening proposition.
Central to the identity of the United Kingdom is that it is (to quote the seventeenth-century radical James Harrington) an Empire of Laws, and not of Men. The people in charge dont get to make up the rules as they go along. Laws are general, equal and certain.
That principle guarantees our liberty because it ensures, as John Locke put it, that we are not subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary will of another man.
The rule of law is what distinguishes free societies from despotisms. It is arguably Britains greatest export, our chief contribution to the happiness of mankind.
For precisely that reason, almost no one admits to being against the idea. When governments bend the rules in their own favour, they naturally claim that they are acting in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the law.
Gaukie is quite right, then, to put each case under the microscope. A country needs constantly to interrogate itself, to invigilate its standards, to hold its leaders accountable.
So lets do precisely that, starting with the Partygate affair.
We keep hearing that it is an example of one rule for them [i.e. politicians] and one rule for everyone else. But endlessly repeating that accusation does not make it true. There is no evidence that the Prime Minister or senior civil servants have been more leniently treated than others in their position. Quite the contrary.
How many keyworkers have been fined for having a drink in the office? How many nurses, for example, have been prosecuted for sharing pictures of themselves with cakes, or uploading TikTok routines?
To the best of my knowledge, none. And quite right, too. It would have been preposterous to charge a group of workers who were already sharing indoor space under rules designed to reduce unnecessary meetings let alone two years after the event.
To complain about people being separated from sick or dying relatives strikes me as fundamentally dishonest. There were indeed harsh rules in place rules which I condemned at the time, unlike many of those who now shed crocodile tears about their effect.
But those rules applied as much to Boris Johnson as to the rest of us. He went unvisited when he was in hospital. He could not spend time with his mother (who died not long afterwards).
The fair comparison is with what other keyworkers did while at their offices. On that basis, if it reallywas one rule for Boris, it was in precisely the opposite way from that which his critics intend.
On the Northern Ireland Protocol, things are more complicated. The Government has an overriding duty to uphold the Belfast Agreement, which depends upon power-sharing. If the Protocol remains unmodified, that deal will collapse, because Unionists will not agree to serve in a devolved government.
The two treaties pull in opposite directions and, if the tension becomes too much, the Government will have no choice but to give priority to the Belfast Agreement, which has been the basis of peace in Northern Ireland for a generation.
Yet it is not clear that dropping parts of the Protocol would amount to abandoning the rule of law. As Peter Lilley argued not long ago on this website, the Protocol was always intended to be temporary, and contains provisions for its own replacement.
It would not be the first treaty to lapse or to be overtaken by events. Where now is the 1729 Treaty of Seville, the 1836 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, or the 1907 Pact of Cartagena? When an accord is overtaken by events, or repudiated by one of the signatories, the rule of law does not collapse.
Ireland, for example, abandoned the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty in stages, cutting its residual constitutional links to the UK, declaring itself a republic and leaving the Commonwealth. Did that mean the end of the rule of law in Ireland? No. It was accepted that a treaty signed under duress had ceased to be valid.
As far as the Rwanda plan goes, we dont yet have full details. But there is nothing wrong, on the face of it, with two countries reaching an agreement on the processing of asylum claims.
Nor is there any obvious human rights violation.Whereas an immigrant aims to get into a particular country (and I am in favour of immigration into the UK), a refugee aims to get out of a particular country.
As long as asylum-seekers do not face persecution or oppression in Rwanda and, for all the low-level racism now being aimed at that country by Leftists, no one has shown that they would they might as well secure sanctuary there as anywhere else.
Yes, we should be watching carefully. It is human nature to care more about outcome than process. We need only look at the United States to see how easily a law-based republic can start to treat elections as contingent, something to be challenged automatically by the losing party.
But, precisely because we live in a world where the rule of law is fragile, where democracies decay into dictatorships, where armies cross borders in anger, we need to keep a sense of proportion.
Britain remains one of the good countries. When Ukrainians say that they want to break with their past and live in a normal country, it is our model or something very close to it that they have in mind. Lets not devalue what we have.
View original post here:
Daniel Hannan: No, the Government has not abandoned the rule of law - ConservativeHome
- What You Need to Know About the New SAG-AFTRA Agreement ... - Casting Networks - November 24th, 2023 [November 24th, 2023]
- Premiership Rugby Highlights Show | Be on TV - ITVX - November 24th, 2023 [November 24th, 2023]
- Elon Musks Neuralink wants to merge your brain with AI at what ... - Vox.com - October 20th, 2023 [October 20th, 2023]
- The World's Job During the War on Hamas: Save the Space For Peace - TIME - October 20th, 2023 [October 20th, 2023]
- Brooklyn Beckham hits back at haters who mock his online cooking videos - Yahoo News UK - October 20th, 2023 [October 20th, 2023]
- Secret to immortality could be just a decade away as scientists predict when well learn to live forever... - The US Sun - August 18th, 2023 [August 18th, 2023]
- Roblox Introduces Heads and Bodies to the UGC Program - Game Is Hard - August 18th, 2023 [August 18th, 2023]
- Bigger Th*t Than Cardi B: Amidst Conor McGregor's Friend's Feud ... - The Sportsrush - August 18th, 2023 [August 18th, 2023]
- Sofia Richie Says Royal Weddings Inspired Her Nuptials - Brides - August 18th, 2023 [August 18th, 2023]
- How Many Times a Day to Post to BeReal a Day - Alphr - August 18th, 2023 [August 18th, 2023]
- Usage of dark web for uploading sensitive defence information is a ... - LawBeat - August 18th, 2023 [August 18th, 2023]
- What Should You Look for in your WiFi Plan? - My Everyday Tech - August 18th, 2023 [August 18th, 2023]
- The Pros and Cons of Using No-Code Websites as a Blogger - MUO - MakeUseOf - August 18th, 2023 [August 18th, 2023]
- The Future Is Now: Wrestling with Ethics, Policy and Brain-Computer ... - NC State News - May 2nd, 2023 [May 2nd, 2023]
- How to Share Images Online Easily With Pasteboard - Dignited - May 2nd, 2023 [May 2nd, 2023]
- The Acid Test, April 2023 - bandcamp.com - May 2nd, 2023 [May 2nd, 2023]
- Top 9 Generative AI Applications and Tools - eWeek - May 2nd, 2023 [May 2nd, 2023]
- Top 50 Most Viewed U.S. YouTube Channels Week Of 04/30/2023 - Tubefilter - May 2nd, 2023 [May 2nd, 2023]
- PPC Automation: When & How To Use It - Search Engine Journal - May 2nd, 2023 [May 2nd, 2023]
- Image SEO: Optimizing images for search engines Yoast - December 16th, 2022 [December 16th, 2022]
- All That Is In The Heavens [Part 14]: Bionic Basim - MuslimMatters - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Mill Creek Leverages QR Codes To Help People Store Their Loved One's Messages as Forever Cherishable Memories - Digital Journal - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- In their own words: County Commissioner candidates Randy George and Steve Skinner on why each should be considered for the open District 3... - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Get ready now for the 2022 Great Southern BioBlitz! - Cosmos - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- ILUMINATIVE Is Reviving the Modern Genre Of Hip-Hop/Rock & Nu-Metal with the Latest Album, 'Endangered' - Daily Music Roll - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Enter the Cambridge Independents Photography Awards 2022 - and win great prizes - Cambridge Independent - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Coros Vertix 2 review the battery life of this smartwatch is insane - CyclingWeekly - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- WTF Are POAPs? The Intriguing Power of Proof of Attendance Protocol - nft now - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Former NRL star Finch fighting to avoid jail amid fears hell be targeted by hardened criminals - Fox Sports - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Muni Long's long and winding road to R&B stardom - Los Angeles Times - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- She-Hulk Recap: Episode 9 | Jen Breaks the MCU - United By Pop - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- People with dark personality type desire enhancing their brains with future tech, new study reveals... - The US Sun - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Emma Chamberlain has opened up the doors of her new home and I havent been able to think of anything else since - image.ie - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- 'Don't believe everything you read': The story of The Onion - Bennington Banner - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- DJ Ace - Peace of Mind Vol 39 (Saxophone Edition Slow Jam Mix ... - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- Longtermism Movement Misses the Importance of War - Scientific American - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- Ten warning signs that your phone is spying on you and tips on removing spyware - Scottish Daily Express - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- JNU Admission 2022: Registration starts for UG admission on the basis of CUET in JNU, fill your form from this link - News Day Express - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- RTI reply: 42 cars in CM Bhagwant Mann convoy, opposition says 'badlav or waste of money' - The Indian Express - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- 10 best One Direction rock covers, from the 1975 to Wolf Alice - Alternative Press - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- How to use GPX maps and trackback on the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro Route tile - Android Central - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- CHITCHAT OVER COFFEE: Give the Heart the space it needs - Manila Bulletin - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- How technology will bridge the gap for the next million - Times of India - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- now allows you to upload your photos and edit them - Gearrice - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- 2023 Honda CR-V First Drive Review: The Once And Future King? - Motor1 - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Pantheon Review: 2022's Wildest Tech Thriller Is a Cartoon | Time - TIME - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Worth Watching: Lord of the Rings Prequel, Uploading Gets Serious in Pantheon, NASCAR Race for the Championship - Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3 - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- The super-rich preppers planning to save themselves from the apocalypse - The Guardian - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- 8 Anime Outros Too Good to Skip - Geek Girl Authority - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- From social media to Pollywood, singer Noor Chahal says originality is her secret to success - The Indian Express - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Behind the music - Ratios - RTE.ie - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- According To Believers, 7% Of Us Will Find Code 0010110 And Exit The Matrix On August 27 - YourTango - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- Elon Musk confirms he already uploaded his brain to a cloud, he spoke to himself - Marca - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- Whatever Happened to the Transhumanists? - Gizmodo Australia - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- TREASURES OF THE TRI-STATE 2022 - 97.3 the Rock - Radio Dubuque - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- India versus West Indies second T20 highlights: Fancode yesterday match 2nd T20 highlights where to watch - The Sportsrush - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- Edinburgh internet troll guilty of sending vile online messages to politicians - Edinburgh Live - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- The PhotoStick Reviews (PhotoStick For PC) - Does This Device Really Worth Buying? Must Read This Before You Buy! - Outlook India - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- How Close Are We to Uploading Your Mind? - How-To Geek - July 23rd, 2022 [July 23rd, 2022]
- Ranveer Allahbadia: Of collaborations and making Reels - Hindustan Times - July 23rd, 2022 [July 23rd, 2022]
- Jasmine TXO: The key to cracking TikTok - Ragtrader - July 23rd, 2022 [July 23rd, 2022]
- You can also earn big money sitting at home from YouTube or Instagram, know how? (How to Earn Money From YouTube And Instagram?) - News Day Express - July 23rd, 2022 [July 23rd, 2022]
- What the POTS shutdown will mean for faxing in the healthcare industry - Healthcare Dive - July 23rd, 2022 [July 23rd, 2022]
- Back Issues: Connecting with the past via historical objects - Stuff - July 23rd, 2022 [July 23rd, 2022]
- Hidden MrBeast Video Sees the Popular Millionaire Put Over $50,000 on the Line for His Fans - EssentiallySports - July 17th, 2022 [July 17th, 2022]
- Some of the internet's most homoerotic content is on The History Channel's YouTube? - Queerty - July 17th, 2022 [July 17th, 2022]
- A Twitter test will remind you to add alt text to images - TechCrunch - July 17th, 2022 [July 17th, 2022]
- Beyonc's 7th Studio Album Renaissance is About Release on The 29th of July - Daily Music Roll - July 17th, 2022 [July 17th, 2022]
- Repairing an old thing is a small act of defiance against disposable culture - The Irish Times - July 17th, 2022 [July 17th, 2022]
- Warzone players slam the dumbest Perk in the history of CoD - CharlieINTEL.com - July 17th, 2022 [July 17th, 2022]
- Tatsuki Fujimotos Just Listen To This Song Is A Lesson In Love And Buddhism - DualShockers - July 17th, 2022 [July 17th, 2022]
- Required Documents - School and Student Services by Community Brands - July 3rd, 2022 [July 3rd, 2022]
- Dr. Strange: Can the Multiverse Really Work as a Plot Device? - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence - July 3rd, 2022 [July 3rd, 2022]
- Sophia Mirzas daughters say living with father happily - The News International - July 3rd, 2022 [July 3rd, 2022]
- Warning for MILLIONS of iPhone users before going on holiday this year... - The US Sun - July 3rd, 2022 [July 3rd, 2022]
- Interview: The Vamps Celebrate 10 Years At The Top! - CelebMix - July 3rd, 2022 [July 3rd, 2022]
- The powerful lesson I learned watching my father die - Sydney Morning Herald - July 3rd, 2022 [July 3rd, 2022]
- How to Sign Up for Amazon Primes Free Trialand Save Big Ahead of Prime Day in 2022 - Yahoo Life - July 3rd, 2022 [July 3rd, 2022]
- Firoz Hasan of Free Motion stands by flood affected Sylhet and Sunamganj - The Daily Star - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- Almost Quote the Movie Serena Williams Fangirls Over Iron Man as She Dons Similar Pair of Glasses Ahead of Her Wimbledon Championships 2022 Campaign... - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]