Opinion : 'Where is our Churchill?'
For all voters next Thursday, the issue of UK Sovereignty should matter
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024
The personal views of a candidate in the UK General Election, exclusively for Facts4EU and CIBUK
Dr Dan Boucher was born and raised in Dorset. He is a former Conservative Party Candidate who left the Party because he could not reconcile himself as a Conservative to the Northern Ireland Protocol/Windsor Framework and moved to Northern Ireland where he became the DUP’s Director of Policy and Research. He is now the TUV/Reform Candidate for Belfast South and Mid Down in the UK General Election.
'Where is our Churchill?'
Sovereignty and our votes in the election next week
One of the key institutions that Brexiteers believe in, for which all UK voters are voting next Thursday, is our United Kingdom Parliament. Indeed, it is precisely because of this that many of us voted for Brexit, expressing the conviction that one of the biggest problems jeopardising national wellbeing was the constraint arising from membership of the EU on ‘the sovereignty of Parliament’.
This historical background
That was a problem because Parliament is the institution that was called into being from 1258 to facilitate the political process begun by Magna Carta in 1215 (whether intended or not) that liberated our governance from the cartel of the King and his Barons, dignifying those who are the ordinary people of this country. Parliament, if our politics is functional, is - unlike the European Commission - our Parliament and supposed to represent us.
The EU and its disenfranchisement of part of the United Kingdom
In this context what do you do if the first thing Parliament does on liberating itself from its self-imposed subjection to the EU (courtesy of the 1972 European Communities Act), is to disenfranchise you? This is what has happened to UK citizens living in Northern Ireland. Rather than suffering from the democratic deficit of old, they have been completely disenfranchised by the decision of Parliament to subject Northern Ireland to what is now a foreign legislature in 300 areas of law. This idea that this is only a problem for Northern Ireland citizens is for the birds.
While in our United Kingdom, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are not collapsed into each other, obliterating English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish identities. Instead we operate as a single political community when it comes to outside threats.
Existential threats to us all
Moments of existential pressure from the outside world come in many different forms. The most obvious is war where an aggressor state seeks to annex part of a country. If the Government of the country concedes, it persuades itself that it is worth giving up the best interests of some of its people for the benefit of everyone else. The justification? We sacrifice the unfortunate inhabitants of the annexed part of our country, making them a means to the end of buying peace for the rest of us.
While ‘utilitarian politicians’ will persuade themselves that buying peace in this manner is justified, they will dishonour their country, enfeebling its undergirding sense of community, bringing shame and reproach upon its people. They will also create an opportunity for politicians with a greater sense of honour to seize the initiative, demonstrating the courageous leadership that the utilitarians could not understand, let alone provide. This was essentially the difference between Chamberlain and Churchill. Notwithstanding the fact that Czechoslovakia was not part of the United Kingdom, the sense of UK moral failure implicated in making some people a means to an end - and trading them for a particular outcome - was the same.
Protecting the integrity of political community from outside pressure is not confined to war, however, which brings us back to the EU.
Rishi Sunak and his involvement in acquiescing to the EU threat
The United Kingdom was confronted with such a question when the European Union offered to keep Northern Ireland under its governance for many economic purposes in return for avoiding a no-deal Brexit. They offered a trade deal which would would benefit Great Britain but disenfranchising the 1.9 million UK citizens in Northern Ireland in some 300 areas of law.
In embracing this deal, the UK Government - especially that led by Rishi Sunak whose Windsor Framework makes this disenfranchisement semi-permanent - entered into a utilitarian compact that has placed the UK political community in jeopardy instead of standing up for its ongoing wellbeing. Rather than treating all UK citizens on the same basis, it allowed 1.9 million of us to be sacrificed and made a means to an end, namely avoiding the perceived costs of a no-deal Brexit.
The consequences of this appeasement
While I am not suggesting that the above analysis is consciously informing the thinking of voters up and down the country, it is not possible to live through such dishonourable misgovernment without its effecting national confidence, generating a widespread sense of national discomfort and attendant lack of belief in ourselves. People know that something is very wrong and that is undoubtedly why, at least in part, the party that has brought this dishonour on us is now facing the prospect of the worst electoral defeat in its history.
In response to this some might say: “But isn’t Northern Ireland a bit different? Did it not vote to remain in the EU anyway?” The truth is that no one in Northern Ireland, neither those voting for Brexit nor those voting against it, voted to be disenfranchised.
Moreover, the notion that the decision to vote to remain part of the EU - which Northern Ireland had been in for less than fifty years - should be interpreted as a vote to leave the UK which is has been part of for over 250 years - is absurd. As if this were not enough, Northern Ireland polling regularly demonstrates more support for remaining in the UK than was expressed in Scotland during the 2014 referendum.
If Northern Ireland had voted to leave the UK, then, while I and many others would deeply regret its departure and feel a keen sense of loss, no permanent damage would have been done to the moral integrity of the UK as a nation. But that has not happened in this case.
Where is our Churchill?
We now need a Churchill to restore our honour and integrity (in every sense of the word), so our country can stand on its own two feet once again. Clearly that person is not Rishi Sunak nor anyone from the current Cabinet, and neither is it Keir Starmer, or anyone in Labour. In this context eyes naturally turn to Reform UK, the only UK party to have a manifesto commitment to removing the Windsor Framework.
- Dr Dan Boucher, Sat 29 June 2024.
[Editor's note : This piece has been edited down a little to enhance the number of readers. All headings are ours.]
Observations
Dr Boucher is a man of integrity. He resigned from his position as the DUP’s Director of Policy and Research on a matter of principle, when the DUP leadership finally acquiesced to Rishi Sunak’s ‘Windsor Framework’ and rejoined the N.I. Assembly.
His opinion piece is primarily about UK cohesion as a country. In past reports we have also shown how the ‘Windsor Framework’ impacts businesses across the whole of the UK, not only in Northern Ireland.
With the country now facing a Labour government next week which plans to align the whole of the UK even more with the EU’s rules, Dr Boucher’s article provides further food for thought this weekend.
If we go, who will publish important articles such as this?
We are a 'not for profit' team (we make a loss) and any payment goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.
We badly need more of our thousands of readers to become members, to support this work. It's quick and easy, we give you a choice of two highly secure payment providers, and we do NOT ask you for further support if you pay once. We just hope you keep supporting us. Your membership stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.
Please don't assume that other people will keep us going - we don't receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us? We rely 100% on public contributions from readers like you.
If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please join now by clicking on one of the links below or you can use our Support page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 48 hours. Thank you.
[ Source: Dr Dan Boucher ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sat 29 Jun 2024
Click here to go to our news headlines
Please scroll down to COMMENT on the above article.
And don't forget actually to post your message after you have previewed it!
Since before the EU Referendum, Brexit Facts4EU.Org
has been the most prolific researcher and publisher of Brexit facts in the world.
Supported by MPs, MEPs, & other groups, our work has impact.
We think facts matter. Please donate today, so that we can continue to ensure a clean Brexit is finally delivered.
Paypal Users Only - Choose amount first
Quick One-off
Monthly
Something to say about this? Scroll down for reader comments