Wednesday 15 June 2011

Magna Carta, Runnymeade 15th June 1215

Today is the 796th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta by King John at Runnymeade.



here is a law which is above the King and which even he must not break. This reaffirmation of a supreme law and its expression in a general charter is the great work of Magna Carta; and this alone justifies the respect in which men have held it.
--Winston Churchill, 1956

The Magna Carta is widely viewed as one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy. I have a copy with a modern translation on the wall of my office in Brussels from where I am writing this piece.

For me this document ienforces one of my guiding and non negotiable principles - Democracy! It is why I rail against the EU so much, the very essence of non-democracy. It is sad to see that successive UK goverments of all persuasions have allowed the Greatest Briton´s words (above) to have become untrue. For now, EU law is supreme over our Monarch and the will of the British people.

This document is and articulates our birthright. A birthright we MUST reclaim.