King John (1166-1216) has two claims to fame: as the usurping Prince John of the Robin Hood legend; and, as King, putting his seal on the parchment copies of Magna Carta Libertatum (‘the Great Charter of Liberties’) of 1215, held up as the foundation of modern democracy. In fact, King John only agreed to Magna Carta under duress and almost immediately had it annulled by the Pope, who considered England part of his papal territory.

King John was facing rebellion by the English Barons, who were fed up with him seizing their lands and demanding ever higher taxes for disastrous wars in France and his brother Richard’s Crusading exploits. Magna Carta made little difference to King John’s conduct, but it placated the Barons for a few weeks.

Magna Carta was re-issued by successive monarchs who took it a little more seriously. A copy of the 1297 version is held in the National Archives in the USA and another in Parliament House in Australia. The 1215 version can be seen at the British Library, Salisbury Cathedral and Lincoln Castle. As a contract with the people, it is outside of Parliament’s remit and cannot be repealed.

(Image of statue at Runnymede: Colin Smith at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

After World War 2, Britain took a long time to recover ~ rationing, for example, lasted until 1954. At the time that British Prime Ministers first had talks with European leaders about joining the ‘Common Market’ ~ the European Economic Community (EEC) ~ there were industrial strikes, power cuts, inflation and the Cold War. These talks, in the 1960s, were unsuccessful.

However, Prime Minister Edward Heath (1916-2005) eventually signed on the dotted line in 1972 and Britain joined the EEC on 1st January 1973. It is claimed that this was unconstitutional, since the people had not been consulted and Heath knew that it was planned for the EEC to become a political union, not simply a customs agreement. In 1975 Prime Minister Harold Wilson (1916-95) made amends and held a referendum asking whether people wanted to “stay” in the EEC, to which they voted ‘yes’. There were just nine western European members at that time.

In 1993 the EEC became the European Community (EC) when it widened its scope beyond the economic. In 2009 the EC became the European Union (EU) and it grew to twenty-eight members. Seven years later, the British public voted in a referendum to leave the EU and regain independence.

(Image: David Iliff at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0)