Sovereign United Kingdom

The modern concept of sovereignty has its roots in the enlightenment period where it gained both legal and moral force. In particular, the construct of the social contract (as a mechanism for establishing sovereignty) was developed by Hobbes, i.e. without the cooperation of other human beings we cannot overcome the "nasty, brutish and short" quality of life. Consequently, people must join in a "commonwealth" and submit to a "Soveraigne [sic] Power" that is able to compel them to act in the common good. Whilst this gained some popularity in Britain it was particularly popular in France and America.

Under the constitutional monarchy and parliamentary system of the United Kingdom, sovereignty ultimately rests in the individual. The right to govern is granted by the people to their elected representatives in parliament and it is the duty of those parliamentarians to return that sovereignty to the people, undiminished, at subsequent elections.

Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the constitution of the United Kingdom. As a result, Parliament, as constituted by the reigning Monarch, as well as the Houses of Lords and Commons, is the supreme legal authority in the UK which can create or end any law. Generally, the courts cannot overrule its legislation and no Parliament can pass laws that future Parliaments cannot change. Parliamentary sovereignty is the most important part of the UK constitution and to this end we oppose all parliamentary Acts which curtail, abrogate or otherwise rescind that sovereignty, both internally (within the UK itself such as the establishment of the supreme court in 2009) or externally (as was the case with the ‘accession’ of the UK to the EU in 1973).

Active on the Global Stage

Being active on the global stage can be broad in scope and have many implications which would be impossible to cover in a simple definition of terms. What we do not mean is for Britain to be involved in forcibly exporting its ideology across the globe. Whilst we believe the British Empire to have been a net positive, global land empires are part of the rich tapestry of history and appear likely to remain so.

What we do believe is that it is the responsibility of the institutions of the United Kingdom to prioritise the long term interests of the United Kingdom and its subjects in primacy to those of other Nation States or Federal bodies. To this end we assert that it is the duty of our government to work with those governments around the globe which are cooperative, in order to obtain the benefits of mutual free trade and security for our respective peoples. Where agreements for cooperation become onerous on the part of the United Kingdom, that is to say they cease to provide a benefit in excess of the cost, they must be terminated.

Additionally we maintain that it is the right of every nation state to see to its own defence and to preserve its national integrity. This may be through both conventional and unconventional means which may encompass the operation of a blue-water navy for the adequate projection of military power overseas, an independent nuclear deterrent, provisions for cyber warfare and so on. These means must be available for our use without seeking permission from extra-national bodies (although in the spirit of international cooperation they ought to be informed where this does not compromise our national interests).

Whilst there may be practices or affairs in countries which we would not accept on our own soil, where these do not compromise the integrity or security of the United Kingdom we believe that these practices or affairs ought to be for those countries to manage or resolve internally. Although we may petition those countries, or make their compliance with our own moral standards a condition of our cooperation, regardless of whether their own cultural or moral standards may fall short of our own, it is our conviction that countries must be free to govern themselves as we also seek the right to govern ourselves.

British Values

Much of those things we value, as British subjects, can be understood through the lens of the various definitions on this page. Individually none of them is unique solely to the British character but in combination they comprise the quintessential embodiment of Britishness:

• Respect for institutions, including both church and state, which provide constancy and consistency.
• Observance and celebration of heritage and tradition, valuing that which is passed down to us.
• Tolerance and neighbourliness, not of the vacuous progressive sort, whereby you must sacrifice your beliefs in favour of those of the other, but of a willingness to cooperate with those we may not see eye to eye with.
• A high regard of the rights of the individual.
• Fierce loyalty to family (which serves in many ways as an institution).
• Desire for fair representation under the law of the land.
• A belief in the importance of personal responsibility.

We observe these socially conservative values which have been gifted to us as a legacy by generations of our ancestors, who in turn made their own mark upon them. In passing these downwards to future generations we can ensure that we do our duty by preserving the British psyche and spirit, often referred to in phrases such as "the stiff upper lip", for our progeny, not necessarily unchanged but not diminished by our stewardship of it.

British Traditions

Naturally what is meant by ‘tradition’, or those things which are thought of as ‘traditions’, will vary depending on who it is that defines it. Traditions may be external to the nation, they may be national, regional, local, even familial in nature and no two people are likely to agree entirely.

We have outlined elsewhere some of those things which we would believe to be part of the national tradition of the UK, this includes the British Monarchy and all of the pomp and circumstance associated therein, adversarial parliament and the principle of parliamentary sovereignty, the concept of freeborn rights and so on.

We support and encourage regional and local traditions in all their variety and colour, from the annual weighing of the mayor in High Wycombe to the Cooper’s hill cheese rolling event in Gloucester. These traditions form part of the unique association between our ancestors and our progeny and it is important that we play the role inherited by ourselves in passing these traditions onwards through participation and preservation.

For governments and local authorities to impose arbitrary changes, constricting red tape or cessation of these traditions in a top down manner without the consent of the governed is simply not acceptable, and runs contrary to the bottom-up principles and legacy of English Common Law.

Christmas must be referred to as Christmas, Morris dancers must be allowed to paint their faces black, games of conkers ought not to be banned for health and safety, and so on.

British Duties

In order to enjoy the privileges of subjecthood, the protection of nationhood and the freeborn rights we have mentioned elsewhere, it is imperative that every individual wishing to reside within the United Kingdom understand that there are duties inherent within the concept of freeborn rights which are absolutely essential for the preservation of those rights. Furthermore, there are duties conveyed within Burke’s concept of society as an association between the dead, the living and the unborn whose binding principle is akin to trusteeship.

Ultimately the absolute minimum obligation as a subject of the crown is to not act (note the difference between action and inaction) in a way which prevents other subjects from exercising their own freeborn rights. Where a person neglects these duties, i.e. actively infringes upon the life, liberty or estate of another subject, the legislature may legitimately curtail such a person's own liberties.

In addition, we expect all subjects to follow the laws of the land (unless they have been enacted illegitimately i.e. contrary to natural law). Where a subject disagrees with a law, legitimately enacted, he must do so through the mechanisms provisioned by the state. At present this would be through democratic means such as petitioning MPs, becoming engaged with political debate, use of reason and logic, etc. Threats, terrorism and dissention against legitimately enacted laws will never be tolerable and should not be engaged with such that those participating in the undesirable behaviour may not be emboldened by their success.

England expects that every man will do his duty!

Freeborn Rights

‘Freeborn’ is a term associated with John Lilburne, The word ‘freeborn’ means born free, rather than in slavery or bondage or vassalage. ‘Freeborn rights’ are those which Lilburne defined as being those rights that every human being is born with, as opposed to rights bestowed by government or by human law.

John Locke developed his own conceptualisation of ‘natural rights’, which are those rights he holds to be inalienable. Like Hobbes, Locke proclaimed a right to ‘life, liberty and estate’:

Life: everyone is entitled to live.
Liberty: everyone is entitled to do anything they want to so long as it doesn't conflict with the first right.
Estate: everyone is entitled to own all they create or gain through gift or trade so long as it doesn't conflict with the first two rights.
Defining what constitutes a ‘right’ is a contentious issue. We state that a right is something which can be enjoyed by all men without the creation of an obligation upon another. In relation to the three natural rights proposed by Locke (above) the first is a right to live, that is to say that the simple act of living is your right, not that someone is obliged to facilitate or enrich that life (only that they must not act to end it unlawfully, see the second natural right).

A common ‘right’ espoused today is that of a ‘right to food’ which carries with it the implication that if you are unable to secure food for yourself that someone must be made to provide it to you. By creating an obligation upon another this ceases to be a right and is, in fact, a privilege.

A legitimate government is one that preserves these freeborn, or natural, rights for all of its subjects. As such we state that these freeborn rights are the due inheritance of all subjects of the Crown, to be enjoyed as each subject deems fit where doing so does not infringe upon the same freeborn rights of another. In addition any government which seeks to rescind or restrict these rights is one which acts illegitimately.

Subject

The definition of ‘British subject-hood’ is one that has changed over time. In the present day it is often used to convey a sense of ‘citizenship’ or ‘nationality’ associated with the political and geographical entity of Great Britain, or even the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and much politicking has gone in to pinning down this modern notion. However, the pre-existing meaning conveys a deeper sense of tradition and inheritance twinned with obligation that appeals to the conservative.

Before the concept of nationality was codified in legislation, inhabitants of English communities owed allegiance to feudal lords, who were themselves vassals of the monarch. This system of loyalty, indirectly owed to both the monarch as an individual as well as to the office itself, developed into a general establishment of subject-hood to the Crown. Natural-born subjects were considered to be those who owed allegiance to the Crown.

The great legal scholar William Blackstone defines 'Allegiance' as follows:

"ALLEGIANCE, both express and implied, is however distinguished by the law into sorts or species, the one natural, the other local; the former being also perpetual, the latter temporary. Natural allegiance is such as is due from all men born within the king’s dominions immediately upon their birth. For, immediately upon their birth, they are under the king’s protection; at a time too, when (during their infancy) they are incapable of protecting themselves. Natural allegiance is therefore a debt of gratitude; which cannot be forfeited, cancelled, or altered, by any change of time, place, or circumstance, nor by any thing but the united concurrence of the legislature.

An Englishman who removes to France, or to China, owes the same allegiance to the king of England there as at home, and twenty years hence as well as now."

Edmund Burke holds that society does not contain the living only; it is an association between the dead, the living and the unborn whose binding principle is akin to trusteeship, and it is within the observation of this institution of subject-hood associated with monarchy that the nation is bound together. Subjects bound to the monarch, to act on behalf of the monarch, and monarch bound to the subjects, to guide and direct them in perpetuity.

The Crown

The Crown is the state in all its aspects. It is the legal embodiment of the executive, legislative and judicial governance of the state made manifest in the reigning monarch who serves in an official capacity (distinct from the monarch’s own individual affairs). Though the absolute power of the monarch in this respect has been reduced over time (as concepts of individual freedom and liberty were expanded) the role of the Crown is not merely a ceremonial or symbolic one: The Crown provides royal assent to parliamentary bills before they can pass in to law as an Act of Parliament*.

We assert that it is the responsibility of the Crown in Parliament (the Sovereign, the Lords and the Commons) to ensure and secure the long term future of the nation and national sovereignty therein. As such, the reigning monarch should be actively engaged in understanding and interpreting parliamentary bills prior to granting royal assent.

Responsibilities of the monarch include:

• Serving as head of state
• Granting royal assent to parliamentary bills
• The employer of all government employees
• The guardian of foster children
• The owner of all state lands and property
• The prosecutor in criminal cases.

The official title of the present Monarch in the United Kingdom is:

“By the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of His other Realms and Territories King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, and Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.”

*Erskine May's Parliamentary Practice advises "...and from that sanction they cannot be legally withheld", meaning that bills must be sent for royal assent, not that it must be given.

Image is the official portrait of His Majesty for his Coronation, taken by Hugo Burnand