No election manifesto has anything to say about an issue vital to the British understanding of government — the relationship between Prime Minister, Cabinet and Parliament (forget the people, of course) which has been so badly corrupted by Blair’s ‘sofa’ politics.
The Greek historian Polybius (200–118 bc) was greatly impressed by the Roman republican system of ‘checks and balances’, which he saw as a combination of democracy, kingship and oligarchy. The people’s assemblies (democracy) appointed magistratus to serve Rome for one year as e.g., finance officers, judges and so on. The top magistratus were the two consuls (kingship), with powers so wide (commanding the army in particular) that two were appointed to keep an eye on each other. All magistratus joined in perpetuity Rome’s unofficial advisory body, the Senate (oligarchy), whose advice was virtually always taken. But it too was constrained: first, any business could be stopped by the people’s ‘tribunes of the plebs’; second, Senate proposals became law only when ratified by the people’s assemblies.
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