Hutton renews here the traditional preoccupation of the British oligarchy with chopping off the heads of monarchs. However, I find it quite bizarre to see Gordon Brown presented as a monarch. A puppet might be more apt- he is so obviously subordinate to the City, bestowing unlimited largess on them at unimaginable cost to ourselves. That the extreme concentration of wealth is incompatible with democracy and, ultimately, any viable body politic, seems to have been lost on us. However as I have argued here the oligarchy, on a high after pulling off the bailout heist, now wish to institutionalise the impotence of the executive and the political class in general.

If we are to stand up to these people we need a strong executive So, by all means, reform the legislative, introducing a written constitution with PR. etc.; but recognise that the logical consequence of this is to create a seperate, elected executive. In other words, a presidential system. The piecemeal reforms on offer will not extend democracy but restrict it and subordinate it to oligarchy: a return to what Disraeli dubbed the Venetian System

Confirming this is the fact that in all this debate supposedly about democracy nothing is said about the encroachments of oligarchy, the privatization of every aspect of political life, even the legal system, and such extraordinary abusesas the substitution of unelected, anonymous, unconstitutional bodies such as COBRA for
the cabinet.

Will Hutton

Guardian

7th June, 2009

I remember Tony Blair early in his premiership discussing cabinet government with Roy Jenkins. Or, rather, not discussing cabinet government. For, as Blair explained, he did not intend cabinet ever to last longer than an hour; the best cabinet was 30 minutes. He planned to drive government from Number 10, using all the powers at his discretion to get his way as fast and efficiently as possible. Jenkins gently reproached his young charge; it would lead to great political mischief, as it did. Think Iraq.

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