The swearing-in ceremonies in parliament this week have been rare in that more of them are filmed, posted on social media – and together, give us a flavour of the diversity in the islands, unified by the crown. Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Protestants and Catholics swear loyalty to the King on a holy book of their choice. Torcuil Crichton took the oath on a Gaelic bible, in Gaelic. I’ve found this a moving, quiet and beautiful reminder of the virtue of our democracy, the purpose of the Crown and the strength of our ancient system.
British politics has no shortage of flaws and challenges, but we can perhaps claim to be the most successful multi-faith democracy in the world. Ours is not a system where parliamentarians need to feel ashamed of their Koran, veil or kippah – and I think it’s important that they bring them. ‘I’ll do it the Scottish way’, said Crichton as he held up his hand to swear allegiance to the King rather than place it on the Bible. Such gestures are a reminder of the many layers of what makes up Britain and how we still treasure languages spoken here before English ever was.
As I watched, I remembered the words of a song about waves of immigration turn into self-reinforcing layers of our social fabric. ‘The Gael and the Pict, the Angel and Dane/ From Pakistan, England and from the Ukraine/ They’re all Scotland’s story and all worth the same.’ But it’s also the story of the United Kingdom which is, through Empire, the original multi-ethnic state. And with a few blips, a country of quite unusual religious tolerance too.
In 1994, Charles said he would like to be ‘the defender of faith’ rather than the defender of the (Anglican) faith of which the monarch is Supreme Governor. That was controversial to some Protestants, but I could see his point. Religion is fading fast in Britain and those who worship any god are in now the minority. At such inflection points, they – we – have a shared interest in arguing for tolerance, for the right of people to live, love and worship however they like. The King saw this coming and positioned himself as the friend and defender of all religions. At her Diamond Jubilee, the Queen made this point explicitly:-
The concept of our Established Church is occasionally misunderstood and, I believe, commonly under-appreciated. Its role is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country.
The King’s coronation was attended by a Hindu prime minister with his Indian wife; security was overseen by a Buddhist home secretary and a Muslim mayor of London. The Chief Rabbi stayed over at Buckingham Palace the night before as the King’s guest so he would not have to break the Sabbath by travelling. His coronation ceremony – a fundamentally Christian one – involved Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders. That ceremony eloquently underlined his point: that instead of a secular society, Britain has become a multi-faith society.
The ceremony also underlines the modern power of the monarchy: the King embodies the country, and as such the oath is sworn to him rather than to a document like the constitution. Those who want a republic are free to say that they take the oath under protest. All of this is watched in amazement by countries where such freedoms are unthinkable.
The last election showed certain religious tensions, with Labour faring badly in areas with a high Muslim population – a sign of the many problems that remain. The strongest democracies are self-critical so it’s right that extremism is kept in sharp focus. But in doing so we risk getting a warped view of what is what I’ve called the stunning success of Muslim integration in Britain. British Islam isn’t defined by jihadis any more than Catholics are defined by the IRA. When I think of British Muslims, I think more of Sajid Javid and his family; I think of the Muslim kids I grew up with; the one-in-ten British children now who brought up in Muslim households. I think of the Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, one of those MPs who swore on the Koran. As did the Nus Ghani, a Conservative, now running for deputy speaker. Using the Koran to swear allegiance is a simple act which gently exposes, as absurd, the idea of any fundamental tension between faith, King and country.
Perhaps there are other western countries where you can imagine a Hindu Prime Minister working away with a Ganesh idol on his desk, but I can’t think of any. The Spectator was set up in 1828 to campaign for what became the 1832 Reform Act – and a parliamentary system which has not changed much since. We have a defiantly unmodern, first-past-the-post system that delivers clear results and no post-election squabbles: unlike quite a few countries you can think of right now.
Yes, the pledges our MPs are taking are antiquated. The whole constitutional monarchy system, let’s face it, would not have been invented now. It does not work in theory. But it does, I suggest, work in practice – and the swearing-in we have seen in the last few days has been a quiet, potent and rather moving reminder of how effective our quirky old system still is.
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