Is Andy Burnham About to Accidentally Prove Britain Has Never Been a Nation of Immigrants?

 Britain has many quaint and ancient laws which have never been properly repealed. Either genuinely, or merely according to urban legend, even to this day it is supposed to be unlawful to enter Parliament wearing a suit of armour, to ask a taxi-cab passenger if they have the plague, to show a child aged under 10 a naked mannequin while in Scotland, or to be found in a state of drunkenness inside a pub. As late as 2001, it was still technically illegal for a Jew to live in Leicester. Today, given that city’s growing Muslim population, this same restriction is still informally true, just not in writing (yet).

Another picturesque old semi-mythical British law is that a Catholic is not allowed to become Prime Minister, an alleged hangover from the days before the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829, prior to which filthy Papists like myself were barred from most meaningful fields in public life, like politics and higher education. The same prohibition once stood for Jews in this country, who did not win initial Emancipation until even later, in 1859. It is sometimes said that this antique rule preventing a Catholic or a Jew from becoming PM still applies, although in truth it probably doesn’t. What is not in serious dispute is that, under the terms of current, never-repealed law, any Catholic – or Jewish – PM must not personally advise the Crown about the appointment of Church of England bishops. As the CofE by convention passes a name, or pair of names, to the PM to look over for each newly appointed bishop before appointment, this could theoretically pose an obscure constitutional problem for Burnham should he now become Prime Minister, as expected, following his depressingly large June 18th victory in the Makerfield by-election....<<<Read More>>>...