Unwritten constitution of UK: time for change? | Armando Iannucci & Dominic Grieve | New Statesman

The United Kingdom has an unwritten constitution. But after Brexit and partygate, trust in the Conservative government is low. When Boris Johnson can break the law and remain Prime Minister, does that mean our system of UK government is broken?
Anoosh Chakelian and Armando Iannucci interview Dominic Grieve and Meg Russell to explore the implications, risks and benefits of having an unwritten constitution, and ask: is it time for change? Is it time for a codified constitution?
This video is a recording of the New Statesman podcast - our special series, Westminster Reimagined with Armando Iannucci, is available to listen now in the New Statesman podcast feed.
Watch more from Armando Iannucci on the New Statesman podcast:
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[@NewStatesman]

Do you think British democracy is in decline? Does the UK need to change its constitution? Let us know down below!

[@jamiewilson3867]

Yes, I think it does. It would have been good to hear some discussion on Gordon Brown’s constitutional convention and the potential for that work to address some of the issues talked about.

[@tommyrotton9468]

Parliament has been destroying democracy and freedom of expression for decades now. the Golden Rule of freedom of and freedom from is being ignored and so we get everything is hate speech with out context mattering.

[@alanhat5252]

Also missing from this was the power of lobbies & of money. Keir Starmer is very obviously standing on the Israel lobby, the current PM hasn't yet shown his hand but is probably standing on hedgefunds, the previous PM was standing on Tufton Street think-tanks & the one before standing on piles of money from various sources.

[@alanhat5252]

What does your panel think of the 6 months after that discussion?

[@electron8262]

A vascinating discussion that deserves many more views than it has.

[@colinthompson3111]

This was a great discussion. The focus was on the UK "constitution ". It would have been interesting to hear discussion about countries with the British Parliamentary system and how they have adapted their constitutions.

[@gerardrigby6086]

I would think it matters if UK politics becomes like US politics because, inter alia : in the US, the Citizens United US court case - corporations as persons; influence of dark money; the US Supreme Court as a nakedly political body currently. In addition we need a better class of person as UK politicians with characteristics of utmost integrity and capable of speaking truth to power. Imagine, to digress, if Blair had been able to stand up to Bush 2 on the disastrous invasion of Iraq. The US model currently has too many obvious blemishes - we should not go near their excesses. Let's beef up UK Question Time and head off disasters before they happen (Brexit springs to mind). Don't go near the US system please.

[@iainmackenzieUK]

Enlightening - thank you

[@ewhite2977]

3:43, Dominic Grieve, well done, you would get the marks on the A level politics exam. It's an uncodified constitution- well done. Finally, someone has got it exactly correct.

[@alanhat5252]

He was formerly Attorney General, it was his job to understand details like that.

[@sempressfi]

@@alanhat5252 one would be forgiven for not expecting the Attorney General to know things after the one yall had under BoJo

[@celt456]

Why no more of Westminster Reimagined? This has been such an interesting, thoughtful conversation.Many thanks

[@Nullius123]

Please fix the audio - a bit of compression would help. PS - Dominic Grieve used to be my MP. If we must have a Tory PM it should be him - a very decent man.

[@alanhat5252]

why is he not your MP now? He stands head & shoulders above so many.

[@papi8659]

Very interesting, The risk of a crazy charismatic populist leader has already happened - Boris Johnson

[@DrSpooglemon]

I like how they sat their giving all the reasons why we need a revolution without ever committing to the idea of actually having revolution. “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.”

[@paulaustinmurphy]

These debates have been going on for decades, Perhaps throughout the entire 20th century... and before. It's almost as if Iannucci has no historical consciousness. He sees TODAY as being SO DIFFERENT to all other periods simply because he is around in 2022. This is "presentism"... I know people who read newspapers every day and take in all the detail they can. Thus they see fairly irrelevant or minor things or events as being of huge importance. Yet that's simply a product of their fixation on The Day Today... By the way, after stating his NOW-fixated position, Armando hardly says another word in this video.

[@electron8262]

This is a good criticism

[@terryhackett2059]

johnson is a classic strawman, he says he's the man to fix the problems he created

[@julianshepherd2038]

Too quiet, couldn't listen.

[@73APhotography]

Maybe try turning up your volume Julian

[@DrSpooglemon]

You didn't miss much. Just a bunch of hot air.

[@alanhat5252]

@@DrSpooglemon that's 34 minutes of your life wasted then. Perhaps you should just leave grown up discussion to the grownups?

[@DrSpooglemon]

@@alanhat5252 I may have been drunk when I wrote that. I'd need to potentially waste another 34 minutes of my life to find out whether I agree with what I wrote back then.