Armando Iannucci & Dominic Grieve: Is democracy slowly collapsing in Westminster? | Westminster Reimagined
The New Statesman | UK politics and culture
The New Statesman
4.4 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2022
⏱️ 39 minutes
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Summary
The renowned satirist and broadcaster Armando Iannucci returns to the New Statesman Podcast to co-host five more special episodes. In these shows Iannucci, explores the parts of British public life that he believes are broken, and he will be joined by guests from both inside and outside Westminster to discuss how politics could be better.
In this episode, Iannucci and Anoosh Chakelian examine what is at the very heart of British politics: the constitution. What is it, is it fit for purpose, and what can be done to change it?
They are joined by special guests Meg Russell, professor in British and comparative politics and director of the Constitution Unit at University College London, and Dominic Grieve, the former Conservative MP and attorney general for England and Wales.
They discuss Britain’s ramshackle constitution vs a codified system of government, concerns over “democratic backsliding” under Boris Johnson’s government and a lack of parliamentary scrutiny, and the kind of democracy people want.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Westminster reimagined, a special series on the New Statesman podcast that looks |
| 0:09.8 | at how politics works and if it can be done better. |
| 0:12.9 | In this episode, we'll be joined by Professor in British and Comparative Politics and Director |
| 0:17.3 | of the Constitution Unit at UCL, Meg Russell and Barrister and former Conservative MP and |
| 0:22.3 | Attorney General Dominic Grieve to discuss the UK Constitution. |
| 0:26.5 | What is it? |
| 0:27.5 | It fit for purpose and what can be done to change it. |
| 0:30.9 | I'mando, why are we talking about the Constitution and I know I asked before what is it but I thought |
| 0:38.6 | that it didn't actually exist if my AS politics actually exist and so we ought to discuss |
| 0:44.9 | whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. |
| 0:47.3 | We're recording this to let everyone know and I've got a glorious sunny lunch time and |
| 0:52.6 | yet we're in this bunker discussing constitutional law and I think for a very good reason |
| 0:57.5 | because it might sound like a dry topic but I think it's absolutely crucial to our survival. |
| 1:03.4 | We've seen the power of government when an emergency happens, the emergency powers that |
| 1:07.6 | can bring in over COVID but we've also seen massive disruptions in constitutional issues |
| 1:13.0 | like Brexit, like the fact that the Prime Minister can change the law to allow an MP not |
| 1:21.0 | to be penalised for breaking the Ministerial Code while that was the intention. |
| 1:26.6 | And also, given the sad situation going on in Ukraine, we also have to ask ourselves, |
| 1:32.9 | does our Constitution, whatever that may be, is that strong enough to prevent the likes |
| 1:39.4 | of an Erdogan or a Putin emerging in the UK? |
| 1:44.3 | Because I know this is a bug by our viewers isn't it? |
| 1:46.4 | The Prime Minister has too much power. |
... |
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