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Magna
Carta
Fifty years ago my parents promised me a tenth birthday treat.
We met the Salisbury Cathedral Librarian who led me into the
beautiful Library. She opened an ancient safe and asked me
to hold out my hands. On them she placed an old parchment and
she said that one day I’d remember that on my tenth birthday
I’d held the Magna Carta in my arms.
I remembered that very recently when I voted against the Government’s
plan to give themselves the power King John lost in 1215.
To pay for his fruitless foreign war, King John imposed arbitrary
and extortionate taxes and those who didn’t or couldn’t
pay had their property seized and pillaged and many were thrown
into prison. In 1215 the barons had had enough. They forced
their political master to sign a Great Charter declaring that
even the King was not above the law and judicial process. Copies
were distributed to every Bishop and Sheriff. Four survive – the
best at Salisbury. The seeds of Western Democracy had been
sown – and much later bore fruit in the American Declaration
of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of
America.
A powerful motivation for my commitment to democracy has always
been the proposition that ‘No freeman shall be taken
or imprisoned or disseased or outlawed or exiled or in any
way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, except by the lawful
judgment of his peers or by the law of the land’. So
locking up suspects on the say-so of the Home Secretary is
just not on.
The Government is also snuffing out the legal principle of ‘habeus
corpus’, the right to a trial, enshrined in English law
in 1679.
And in the Parliamentary legislative process they are trying
to slip through little orders called ‘super-affirmative
resolutions’. These would give Ministers power to amend
primary legislation by order.
Nor will it do to wheel out a judge to endorse imprisonment
without trial. This is simply not a judicial process. Why blame
the judge? Why pass the buck? The only time when, in the UK,
terrorist suspects were imprisoned without trial was in Northern
Ireland in the early 1970s – and that was a miserable
failure. It made matters worse and recruited more terrorists.
We have used powers of internment during war – powers
that expired when war ended. The measures in the Prevention
of Terrorism Bill have no expiry date. How long before a Home
Secretary expands their use into, say, the fight against crime?
These are the levers of despotism – even in the face
of the very real threat from whole new forms of terrorism they
should be resisted. Coming from any Government this Bill would
be a disgrace. Coming from a Government that trumpeted human
rights and passed the Human Rights Act, it is also the height
of hypocrisy. There is always a balance to be struck between
individual liberty and the common good – but this Government
has run off with the scales.
The Spice of Life
You send me to Westminster to represent your interests – but
you certainly keep me busy at home in the Constituency! It
is a privilege to keep in touch with a huge variety of people
and activities – all of them affected by our decisions
in Parliament.
Back in 1992, when I set to work as a Minister to help introduce
the legislation establishing the National Lottery, I was confident
that many local causes would benefit, but I would not have
dared to predict the extent of its success. After 10 years
in operation, it has raised over £16 billion for good
causes, paid nearly £6 billion to the Treasury, earned £2.4
billion for the retailers, handed out £24 billion in
prizes and created 1,719 millionaires. In Salisbury Constituency,
296 projects have received £15 million in National Lottery
awards. I’m quite proud of that!
I was at Upper Avon School in Durrington recently – to
congratulate them on their specialist sport status and to be
briefed on their IT achievement. I was delighted to learn at
first hand that history, science, maths, English and other
languages are taught with great enthusiasm. But I was amazed
and thrilled at the very high standard of information technology
and computer literacy among teachers and pupils alike. To watch
both history and physics taught using interactive whiteboards
and powerpoint presentations made me realise how fast the world
of education is moving and how fortunate we are to have so
many good people committed to the sound education of our children.
Eighteen miles to the south, the Downton community (led by
a group of militant mums) decided enough is enough when it
comes to people versus motor vehicles. The village has been
there for a thousand years and was never meant to bear the
size, shape or weight of today’s commercial traffic.
Just about the only good thing to come out of the closure of
the A 36 for roadworks and the havoc inflicted yet again on
Whiteparish was a temporary lorry ban through Downton. The
village and its people got a life again – and we convinced
the County Council to make the ban permanent. Now, that’s
democracy in action!
I regularly visit our District Hospital for briefings and
updates. Before Christmas I had a very successful minor operation
on a tooth and recently I went for the final check-up. Given
the media frenzy raging up-country, I decided our NHS in Salisbury
is clearly on a different planet. The cheery van drivers and
porters, the welcoming receptionists, efficient nurses and
highly-motivated clinical staff deserve a big pat on the back
for looking after us so well in spite of the nonsense foisted
on them by central government. I recall with affection the
Odstock Nissen huts in which I had my tonsils out in 1953 – but
I’m very glad indeed that the modern hospital built more
than a decade ago is starting another phase of expansion. Fortunately,
when people come to Salisbury, they like to stay put. That
goes for medics too. How wise they are!
Robert Key MP |
