Claim 98b33bb4Checked 09 Jul 2026
Partly True/FalseOn the truth scale
“We had a system of government that we all understood.”
Reasoning & Evidence09 Jul 2026
The claim is too sweeping as written. It is true that the post-1688/1689 settlement established a more clearly defined constitutional monarchy: the Bill of Rights made the monarch govern only with Parliament’s consent and firmly established frequent parliaments, free elections, and parliamentary privilege. But it is not accurate to say that this produced a system of government that “we all understood” in any universal or settled sense. UK Parliament’s own material describes the 1688–89 arrangements as a pragmatic agreement, while the Commons Library notes that the origins, nature, and extent of parliamentary sovereignty are complex and disputed, and that constitutional government became durable through later habit rather than because revolution had finally settled everything. Sources: UK Parliament, “Bill of Rights 1689” (https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/revolution/collections1/collections-glorious-revolution/billofrights/); The National Archives, “Glorious Revolution” (https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/education/glorious-revolution.pdf); House of Commons Library, “Parliamentary sovereignty” (https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10377/); UK Parliament Factsheet G4, “The Glorious Revolution” (https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/commons-information-office/g04.pdf).
From article
Well, I’m Cavalier by instinct and by lifestyle. I mean, I don’t like Roundheads. You know, you can be Christian and fun or you can be Christian and, like Cromwell, be deeply puritanical and want to control everybody. So, yes, the Civil War is terribly important but I accept that there is a minor conflict in my mind on it.
Ultimately, the importance of the Civil War and the republic and what happened in the 1680s is that we put together, I think, a constitutional settlement as good as anything in the world, really. We had a system of government that we all understood. We all understood. OK, there wasn’t full emancipation, but from then on general elections really mattered. And my argument is that since [Britain joined the European Economic Community, the forerunner of the European Union, in] 19732The year that Edward Heath’s government took Britain into what was then the European Economic Community that has gradually been diminishing, to the point now where it doesn’t really make any difference who’s in No 10. I mean, it doesn’t matter to the City any more whether it’s Tory or Labour.
Sources opened+ 33 search hits considered
| [1] | parliament.uk |
| [2] | cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
| [3] | parliament.uk |