Selling us short

​I have to say I think the Queen has let us down. Since my post earlier today, she has agreed to Johnson’s request to prorogue parliament early. It may not be quite the same thing, but when the German President Hindenburg in 1933 invited private first class Adolf Hitler—from a parliamentary minority party—to form a government, the consequences were huge, and unforeseen by most. The established right in Germany didn’t believe Hitler was capable of very much and assumed he would do their bidding. But Germany, passing through its phase of the largely directionless Weimar government resorted to a quick fix. It could be that her Majesty will go down in history as Britain’s Hindenburg. Who was advising her? Presumably her Private Secretary since 2017, Edward Young CVO had some say in this. A search on the intermet for Young’s CV is sadly a little light on detail. He went to private school and ended up working for Barclays Bank. But for those who like something a little juicier, there are multiple hits on a website—CarrollMarylandTrustCase—which seems to imply Young was complicit in some fraud case. The website is so poorly designed, it is impossible to say exactly what it is they think Young did, and on that basis alone I cannot take it seriously. But a Barclays banker Young was, and these days that’s hardly a recommendation.
 
Given the time that had elapsed between the public learning of Johnson’s plans for closing parliament down and the Queen’s acquiescence it looks like hardly any legal or constitutional advice was sought. Or perhaps it was, well beforehand, in which case the Queen’s position hardly improves, since she seems to have ignored her Privy Council, many of whom I suspect would have found some diplomatic way of forestalling a precipitate decision by Her Maj. So perhaps it was all left to one ex-banker to whisper in Her ear. I don’t know. Maybe somebody is shorting the British economy?