by With the death of Elizabeth II, it is tempting to talk about the immutability of British institutions, in contrast to France and its many revolutions and constitutions. In reality, things are more complex, and the two countries are closer than they sometimes imagine, including when it comes to their political systems and institutions. The United Kingdom has seen its share of constitutional revolutions and upheavals, including the fall of the House of Lords, which has been without real power since the People’s Budget crisis of 1909. Deprived of its Lords, who until then had been the backbone of the government and of executive and legislative power (most of the prime ministers had come from them), the British monarchy has been nothing more than a facade, governed entirely by its House of
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With the death of Elizabeth II, it is tempting to talk about the immutability of British institutions, in contrast to France and its many revolutions and constitutions. In reality, things are more complex, and the two countries are closer than they sometimes imagine, including when it comes to their political systems and institutions. The United Kingdom has seen its share of constitutional revolutions and upheavals, including the fall of the House of Lords, which has been without real power since the People’s Budget crisis of 1909. Deprived of its Lords, who until then had been the backbone of the government and of executive and legislative power (most of the prime ministers had come from them), the British monarchy has been nothing more than a facade, governed entirely by its House of Commons, at least until the shock of the Brexit referendum in 2016.
Let’s start at the beginning. The country had its first « French revolution » in 1530, with Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. In the same way as in France after 1789, but more than two centuries before, the Church’s land was sold to nobles and the bourgeoisie – those who could afford to buy them. This meant the state could be bailed out, while contributing to the creation of a new class of powerful and unified private owners, ready to embark unhindered on agrarian and then industrial capitalism. After the beheading of Charles I in 1649 and then a brief period of republicanism, the Crown had no choice during the « Glorious Revolution » of 1688 but to submit to the power of Parliament, clearly dominated by the House of Lords. In the 19th century, societal and labor uprisings and the rise of universal suffrage reinforced the House of Commons’s legitimacy. The conflict between the two Houses became inevitable and was played out in two stages.
In the 1880s, Lord Salisbury, leader of the Tories and the House of Lords, unwisely put forward the « referendum » theory: The Lords would have not only the moral and political right but also the duty, if they thought it good for the country, to veto legislation passed by the Commons – except in cases where legislation had been shown to the country before the vote. As a result, in 1894, the Lords vetoed Gladstone’s (the leader of the Liberals) plans for new legislation on Ireland, a moderately popular reform that had not been explicitly put before voters. This allowed the Conservatives to win the 1895 election and return to power. But Salisbury’s recklessness soon became apparent.
Back in power under Lloyd George, the Liberals had their famous People’s Budget adopted by the Commons in 1909, with an explosive cocktail of measures: the creation of a progressive tax on total income (the supertax, which was added to the quasi-proportional taxes that had been imposed on different categories of income since 1842); an increase in inheritance tax on the largest inheritances; and an increase in property tax, particularly on large landed estates.
The whole package made it possible to finance a new series of social measures, in particular concerning workers’ pensions, in an electoral context in which it was necessary to make promises to the working classes. The whole thing was perfectly calibrated to gain public support, while at the same time being an unacceptable provocation for the Lords, especially since Lloyd George did not miss an opportunity to publicly mock the idleness and uselessness of the aristocratic class. The Lords fell for it and vetoed the « People’s Budget. »
Lloyd George then chose to double down by passing a new law in the Commons, this time a constitutional one, whereby the Lords would no longer be able to amend finance laws and their power to block other legislation would be limited to one year. The Lords unsurprisingly vetoed this planned suicide, and a new election was called, which resulted in another Liberal victory. Under the Salisbury Convention, and under pressure from the king to appoint a new batch of Lords if they reneged on their promise (a nuclear weapon rarely used in history but decisive in a crisis), the Lords were forced to pass the new Constitution Act in 1911. It was at this point that the House of Lords lost all real legislative power. Since 1911, popular opinion is expressed at the ballot box and in the House of Commons, and that is the law of the land in the United Kingdom, while the Lords have had only a purely advisory and largely ceremonial role. In 1945, the working class party won the election and set up the National Health Service. At the same time, the French senate also lost its veto power, after decades of blocking many essential social reforms (starting with women’s right to vote, adopted by the Chamber of Deputies in 1919).
With Brexit and arrival of Liz Truss into Downing Street, the two countries seem to be drifting apart again. But we can bet that protests and the social crises to come will continue to hold many surprises for us. France and the United Kingdom will continue to learn from each other and may one day meet again if the European Union finally succeeds in its social and democratic revolution. God save democracy!