The Shadow of Great Britain

209: Chapter 143 Parliament Confrontation (7K4) 209: Chapter 143 Parliament Confrontation (7K4) Intervention by the guards soon resulted in the two blustering Members of Parliament being pinned to the ground.

Once they were escorted out of the Parliament Hall, the boiling atmosphere inside the hall seemed to calm down to a certain extent.

Duke Wellington watched as the two MPs, who were shouting about scheduling a duel for another day, were taken away and then, accompanied by his confidants, he proceeded to the front-row seats that had been reserved for him.

However, before he could even get his seat warm, he saw a sea of hands being raised from the opposite Whig camp.

Taking advantage of the time the Speaker of the House of Commons was reinstating order, Wellington Duke asked Sir Peel beside him, “Robert, how’s the situation with the ‘King’s Annuity Bill’?”

Sir Peel, with a somewhat headache, held his forehead and said, “The situation is not very optimistic.

The Whig Party is holding on to the issue of Civil Servants’ financial expenditures and corruption.

From their stance, it seems they might push through the amendment to the ‘King’s Annuity Bill’ at any cost.”

If Sir Peel’s words to a regular London citizen, most likely they wouldn’t understand what he was talking about.

But the same words, when they reached Duke Wellington’s ears, had a different meaning altogether.

The so-called “King’s Annuity Bill” referred to an act passed by the British Parliament in 1697.

It specified that annually, Parliament would grant the King an annuity based on actual circumstances, and the main use of the King’s annuity, aside from covering royal household living expenses, was to pay the salaries of the Government’s civil servants.

Members of the Cabinet, such as the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary, were generally called Ministers.

And positions like the Permanent Under-Secretary of the Home Office were referred to as Civil Servants.

The main distinction between Civil Servants and Ministers lies in the fact that Ministers are elected, non-career government officials who are responsible for leading departments and making decisions in the governing process, but not responsible for the actual implementation.

Whereas Civil Servants, on the contrary, are appointed rather than elected and are responsible for executing, not making decisions, in the governance process.

Due to the unique nature of the work of Civil Servants and since their salaries were paid from the King’s annuity, the current British system of appointing Civil Servants is referred to as the King’s Patronage system.

The actual loyalties of all Civil Servants are to the King, not the Cabinet.

So while the King and the ruling party cannot influence the election process of Ministers, they control the payment of Civil Servants’ salaries and the power of personnel appointments.

Controlling these two powers essentially means controlling all Civil Servants.

The Whig Party’s proposal to amend the “King’s Annuity Bill” aimed to completely separate the royal household living expenses from the Government Civil Servants’ salary expenses, ensuring that the Civil Servants’ salaries from henceforth would be paid out of the Treasury rather than the King’s annuity.

By doing so, they could limit to the greatest extent the influence that the King, in cahoots with the Tory Party, could exert on the Civil Servants, preventing future impediments to the Whig Party’s governance.

More importantly, this would reveal much more clearly many sinecures that the Tory Party had hidden away to bribe various neutral MPs.

After all, inspecting the Treasury’s accounts is always easier than inspecting the King’s ledger.

As the Speaker’s gavel fell, Parliament Hall finally returned to silence.

All that could be heard was the Speaker’s commanding shout: “Lord John Russell!”

As soon as the voice fell, a middle-aged man wearing a tailcoat and with parted hair took the pre-prepared materials and walked up to the lectern.“Mr.

Speaker, what I wish to clarify here is that this corrupt and incompetent government has thrown our country into a complete mess.

Everyone knows the severity of the problem now.

Last month, London, Birmingham, Manchester, and other places erupted in protest marches, the famine in the countryside is increasingly serious, and the momentum of the Swin movement continues to grow in southern England.

Citizens from all walks of life across the nation, be they merchants, workers, or farmers, are demanding Parliamentary reform.

Yet our Prime Minister, the illustrious and valiant Duke Wellington, when faced with public sentiment erupting, merely knows to shrink within his ‘London No.

1’ Apsley House.

Other than changing his windows to iron, I have not seen the Government take any effective measures to deal with this greatest crisis since the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

I do not doubt the Duke has the world’s best command abilities, but I question whether an Army Commander, who only knows military discipline, can manage the world’s greatest nation in the same manner.

My question is, does the Prime Minister truly understand what he is doing now?

Does he know that continuing to resist reform is destroying Britain’s democratic tradition established since the Glorious Revolution?

Britain is a great democratic nation, not a nag whipped forward by the Duke.

He is gradually turning Britain into his personal military dictatorship.

If he cannot acknowledge this, then at the very least, he must be able to justify his delayed response and passive actions!”

As soon as Lord Russell finished speaking, a large group of Whig Party backbenchers stood up, shouting cheers of encouragement and approval for Lord Russell’s interrogation.

The Speaker’s gaze naturally turned to the right, and he called out loudly: “Prime Minister!”

Duke Wellington, brandishing his walking stick like a sword, stood up, but before he could step forward, he heard Sir Peel beside him, speaking in a lowered voice, “Your Grace, if there are any issues you truly cannot handle, please delegate them to us.”