The Conservative Party and Constitutional Reform
Revisiting the Conservative Dilemma through Cameron's Bill of Rights
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6313735 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Munce (University of Hull, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 67 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 80-101 |
| Publication date | 2014-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Parliamentary Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-2290 • E-ISSN: 1460-2482 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/pa/gst023 |
| OpenAlex | W2019656611 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 21 |
In June 2006 the Conservative Party leader, David Cameron made a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies. In it he committed a future Conservative government to repeal the Human Rights Act (HRA) and replace it with a British Bill of Rights (BBoR). The purpose of this article is to subject David Cameron's BBoR proposal to closer scrutiny by placing it in the wider context of Conservative thinking about constitutional reform. It does this by revisiting an essay published in 1980 by the late and distinguished political scientist, Nevil Johnson, where he explored some of the core dilemmas for Conservatives that arise when they find themselves in the position of protagonists for constitutional reform in Britain. It is argued in this article that Johnson's original essay offers a useful analytical lens through which to consider further David Cameron's proposal to replace the HRA with a BBoR. The central argument of the article is that Cameron's approach to addressing Conservative concerns about human rights law in Britain by advocating the repeal of the HRA and replacing it with a BBoR is inconsistent with many of the key themes of a generally orthodox conservative approach to constitutional reform
Argument (complex analysis · Bill of rights · Conservative government · Constitutional law · Context (archaeology · Dilemma · Human rights · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Reform Act · Repeal · Scrutiny · Sociology · Subject (documents · European and International Law Studies · History · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Philosophy · Political and Economic history of UK and US
Tony Blair and The Constitution
Speaking for the people
An Era of Constitutional Reform
Democracy in Britain
Conserving the Constitution? The Conservative Party and Democratic Renewal
Profoundly Un‐Conservative? David Cameron and the UK Bill of Rights Debate
Parliamentary Bills of Rights
The Political Constitution
The Constitutional Revolution in the United Kingdom
Understanding the British Constitution
The Constitution and the New Conservatives
The Constitution
The Conservative Party and Constitutional Reform
Prime Ministers and the Constitution
Bi-constitutionality
The New Commonwealth Model of Constitutionalism
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |