Pretence: Why The UK Needs A Written Constitution

The moment of Brexit (2016-20) singularly challenged the UK’s unwritten constitution. Some blamed Theresa May and Boris Johnson for implementing the referendum result. Others – including Austen Morgan, a barrister and writer – criticise parliament and the supreme court more fairly. His book, 'Pretence: Why The UK Needs A Written Constitution', takes up the idea in the 2019 conservative manifesto, and shows how a reforming government could begin to codify the rules by which the state runs, in place of the Gilbert and Sullivan flummery which dignifies the reality of political power. Discussing Europe, devolution, judicial review and human rights as contemporary political issues, the book even begins the process of finding agreement by the peoples of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland with the author’s own suggestions for a preamble to a new constitution.