The Remembrancer

I come back to the Burnham/Rotherham book Head North. Their ambitions are laid out in their ‘10 point plan’ which covers things like constitutional reform (e.g make the House of Lords a directly elected senate and introduce proportional representation), introduce a basic law like Germany’s which dictates that government spending should seek to give citizens equivalent standards of living, make the educational system recognise vocational skills as being just as important as going to university, more control over transport and so on—all good stuff. What’s missing is a proposal to tackle the world of finance, that is the influence and power of the City aka the Square Mile. The authors’ emphasis on ‘place matters’ has long ago been adopted by the City, which has retained its special privileges, influence and power for centuries. The Corporation of the City of London, which maintains its own police force and counts businesses amongst its 10,000 electorate is emblematic of the power of ‘the City’ more generally. It jealously defends this status partly through the office of ’The Remembrancer,’ an office which dates back 450 years. The holder of this office is entitled to sit in the chamber of the House of Commons (but with no vote or speaking rights) as part of their duties to monitor legislation. Illustrated below is part of an earlier year’s Remembrancer’s office plan. Yes, looks just like something lobbyists would get up to—but lobbyists don’t get to sit in the Chamber (and if they can sit in the Chamber, where else do they have a seat?) 
 
I confess that in all my nine years in parliament I was never aware of the Remembrancer. I was inclined to see the chaps in their silly costumes carrying cushions on sticks at e.g. the Queen’s speech as a set of doddery flunkeys who were granted the honour for past brown nosing services to the monarch. But they are representative of a powerful coterie/nexus of individuals with more than just inheritance tax hikes to worry about: they are a crucial display of tradition which even—even—Labour prime ministers lose sleep over. Or maybe just turn over and go back to sleep with (metaphorically speaking).
 
If Burnham and Rotherham want to advance place-based politics, they need to examine the power of the UK’s most significantly influential place. Despite the City’s role in the UK economy being examined ad nauseam I’m not sure anyone has really looked at the minutiae of how its ingrained influence works. We could of course ask Nigel Fartage—he was (and is) I believe part of it. Burnham and Rotherham don’t talk about the City.
 
I am reminded that Head North tells us that just 50 people run the country. It says maybe half of them are elected. Some will be civil servants of course. There will be some others. Who could they be?​