The Queen has acted promptly to head off a constitutional crisis following Gordon Brown’s inept attempt to win over a few Catholic votes in Scotland by threatening to butcher the 1701 Act of Settlement.

The Act of Settlement 1701

Buckingham Palace has indicated that the Queen will not even consider consenting to any carve up of the constitution until all Dominion Parliaments have agreed to it. That could take years, by which time Brown will just be an unpleasant memory in recent history.

Brown’s party politicking with the Monarchy reveals the depths of this man’s chicanery. Set to be comprehensively bundled out of office by the electorate, any device is now fair game to him. He is a dangerous, out-of-control head of government who could do even more damage to the country before he is sacked by the people.

Some months ago I called for him to be impeached. Today, Simon Heffer in the Telegraph makes the same demand.

The Queen can no longer cry, “Off with his head!”, but a constutional equivalent is available to her. Such is the state of the country’s finances, with even the Governor of the Bank of England making the short journey to the Palace to confer with her last week, it should not be difficult for Brown to be sacked, or for Parliament to be dissolved pending a swift General Election.

A republican constitution is the last thing the public wishes for. As historian Andrew Roberts puts it: “… the Act of Settlement is not the bigoted, irrelevant and obsolete law that Downing Street presents it as – it is one of the key pieces of legislation that has defined what Britain was and still is. … Britain is a Protestant country today largely because of the Act of Settlement. It secured the Hanoverian succession 13 years after the Glorious Revolution replaced the Catholic King James II with the Protestant William III (of Orange) and Mary II.” — Link to article.

Any politician who thinks that the Constitution can be made a political football should be dismissed from his post, no matter how lofty it is.

The newly-published political memoirs of Alastair Campbell, former spin doctor to Tony Blair, throws a little light in dark corners here and there.

The Queen at Prince William’s Passing Out, Sandhurst

He claims that Princess Diana wanted her son William to inherit the Throne directly from the Queen and bypass Prince Charles. Now this is not new, as Diana implied as much in her explosive Panorama interview following the publication of Andrew Morton’s book in which she secretly collaborated.

On January 21, 1997, three months before Blair became Prime Minister, Campbell says that Diana dined with the Blairs and the Campbells at a friend’s home in East London. He claims, “while she was looking for things in the kitchen, I asked about William, and she said she would have some influence over what happened to him and she was clearly determined he would be King.”

It’s all a bit vague the way it’s written, but it rings true nevertheless.

What’s interesting is the phrase, “she said she would have some influence over what happened …” Seeing that the succession is determined by Act of Parliament and not by a divorced Princess of Wales, it’s hard to take it seriously at first glance.

Could this be the reason that she so assiduously collected all that material about Charles, even interviewing and taping his staff? Tapes which have since gone missing.

Diana, the toppler of Kings is a new string to her bow — if it’s all true, of course.

Anyone who has seen the Oscar-winning film The Queen, with Helen Mirren in the title role, will remember the amusing scene in which Tony Blair is appointed HM’s 10th Prime Minister.

Today, that process was reversed when Tony Blair went to Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation.

Dour Scot, Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, was then appointed Prime Minister — the 11th of the Queen’s reign.

I mention this because, here in Britain, it seems such a momentous occasion. Blair has been in office for 10 long years and the public was yearning for a change.

But also because the film got it wrong. Nowadays, the incoming PM doesn’t have to kneel, nor kiss the Queen’s hand. It’s all done with just a brief exchange of words. Unlike in America, it’s the Queen who takes the oath, at her Coronation, and simply appoints the Prime Minister by asking him/her to form a Government.

However, the incident in the film pin-pointed a trait in Blair’s character : his lack of grasp of the detail. It’s a case of art casting light on reality.

The Queen appeared to get along well with Brown as he spent an hour in her company. In the movie, Blair was only there for a few minutes.

It’s at moments like these that the constitutional nature of the Monarchy is apparent to all.

No-one does it better than Elizabeth II.