King’s Speech

Lord Garnier Excerpts

Monday 18th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Garnier (Con)]

My Lords, my noble friend Lord Wolfson has done the House a service, not only through what he said and the way that he said it but by saving me from saying it all over again. I agree with every word that he said.

I could also spend the entirety of the time allotted to me in this debate, and a lot more, speaking about the noble Lord, Lord Hennessy—whose valedictory speech we will hear very shortly—thanking him for his contribution to public understanding of our constitution through his books, his broadcasts, his journalism, his lectures and his participation among us here in your Lordships’ House. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Manningham-Buller, I congratulate him on becoming a Knight of the Garter, a fitting recognition by His Majesty of his achievements and his service to the country over many years. I should perhaps also add my congratulations to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Burnett of Maldon, and the noble Lord, Lord O’Donnell.

The noble Lord, Lord Hennessy, has written to the effect that:

“Whereas every other Western democracy has codified its system of government, Britain’s constitution is a mish-mash of laws and conventions, customs and courtesies. Britain sees no need for the legalistic … writing down its constitution in one place. Instead it relies on the notion that its politicians know where the unwritten lines of the constitution lie, and do not cross them. ‘The British constitution’”,


he said,

“‘is a state of mind’”.

He famously described this as the “good chaps” theory of government, which requires a sense of restraint all round to make it work. He said:

“We have long assumed that those who rise to high office will be ‘good chaps’ … who understand the rules and choose to observe them. That has left us vulnerable to those who are not ‘good chaps’ but are willing to smash those rules for their own advantage”.


I will not divert myself down my anecdotage to refer to the Prorogation case, in which I appeared for Sir John Major to intervene on behalf of one former Prime Minister and leader of my party against the then current leader of my party and Prime Minister, but suffice it to say that the case described very neatly what the noble Lord, Lord Hennessy, was writing about. Many years ago, Professor Dicey wrote that if you break a convention, you will end up breaking the law. In 2019, that prediction was made good.

Whether one uses the expression “good chaps” or something else, there never was a golden age of politics in our history. It is a history of disagreement and occasionally of violent conflict. However, for most of the last few centuries, we have all understood each other. That attachment to commonly accepted rules, to passionate but well-argued debate and behaviour in the governance of our country’s affairs, is now, as this weekend has demonstrated, under strain.

I have spoken of the fellowship that existed between parliamentarians, the legal profession and the judiciary, which has become attenuated. We used to speak the same constitutional language and understood where we could go and where we should not go. The courts did not invade Parliament, and Parliament and the Executive did not abuse the judiciary. Barristers were not attacked for representing unpopular clients or vicious criminals. We were all part of a shared endeavour to do the very best for our country and its people, even if we came from different backgrounds and wanted different outcomes.

I see that the noble Lord, Lord Timpson, is on the Front Bench. He has worked his guts out trying to improve the prison system, but, sadly, he has been prevented from doing the one thing that he and I want to do, which is to reform the IPP system finally and for good. I am sorry that there was nothing in the gracious Speech that allowed him to bring forward a package of reform.

I will say no more about the jury system. There is plenty of time to say something about that when we come to deal with the now, I understand, newly named courts modernisation Bill—it is the same rubbish but a different name. I think the Government ought to drop it.