This Isn’t The Country We Grew Up In
Let’s be blunt: England feels broken.
We’ve gone from a confident, stable country to what even Keir Starmer called a “nation of strangers” – people living side by side with no shared story, no shared loyalties, and no shared rules.
For 45 years I’ve watched our politics slide: treaties we never really consented to, mass immigration without a vote, foreign conflicts imported onto our streets, and a political class that talks about “Britain” or “diversity” but almost never about England herself. The English constitution – Magna Carta, the 1689 Bill of Rights, the principle that power flows from the people and is limited by law – has been quietly betrayed.
In this article I’ll set out, in plain English and without spin:
- How the English constitution was meant to protect us.
- How the British establishment has ridden roughshod over it.
- Why loyalty to England has to be the foundation again.
- And what “bringing power back home” actually looks like in practice.
No grand theories, just straight talk from someone who has watched the slow demise of England for nearly half a century.
1. What The English Constitution Really Is (And Isn’t)
People hear “constitution” and think of a big American‑style book locked in a glass case. That’s not how the English constitution works. Ours is a mix of:
- Historic documents like Magna Carta and the 1689 Bill of Rights.
- Common law principles built up in the courts.
- Long‑standing customs that set out who can rule and on what terms.
Magna Carta wasn’t some medieval PR stunt. It said the king himself was under the law. It gave us the idea that power has limits, that you can’t just throw people in prison without cause, and that tax and punishment need consent.
The 1689 Bill of Rights nailed down key protections after the Glorious Revolution: no suspending laws at will, no new taxes without Parliament, no standing army at home without consent, regular Parliaments, free elections, and the right to speak out in Parliament without fear.
In other words, the English constitution was supposed to put chains on power and give ordinary English people a shield against arbitrary rule. The English constitution betrayed is not some abstract legal point – it’s about those chains being quietly cut, link by link, while most people were busy trying to pay the bills.
2. How The Union Turned England’s Constitution Into “Britain’s Property”
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the moment England signed up to the 1707 Acts of Union with Scotland, our institutions stopped being clearly English and started being rebranded as “British”. The English Parliament became the Parliament of Great Britain. English common law was wrapped in a Union flag and treated as a British asset.
That mattered then, and it matters even more now. Because once everything became “British”, England herself disappeared from view. The British state claims the authority, but the English people take the consequences.
Look at what’s happened in my lifetime:
- Supranational bodies and foreign courts quietly taking more and more say over our laws.
- Mass immigration policies driven by party machines and international agreements, not by clear consent from the English people.
- Devolution for Scotland and Wales, special deals for Northern Ireland – and England left as the only nation without her own parliament or government.
England became the host body, Westminster the “British” head, and everyone started pretending that was just normal. It isn’t. The English constitution betrayed looks exactly like this: a historic nation, stripped of its own voice, told to be quiet while “Britain” makes decisions in her name.
3. Broken Allegiance: When Those In Power Aren’t “England First”
At the heart of any real constitution is a simple question: who is your first loyalty to?
We all know what it looks like when that loyalty is blurred. We’ve seen:
- Local councillors living in Bangladesh while drawing allowances from English councils and standing for election back in Bangladesh at the same time.
- MPs who treat Parliament as a platform for foreign causes first and England’s interests second – if at all.
- Activists who label anyone to the right of Labour a “fascist”, then talk about “fighting them in the streets” rather than beating them at the ballot box.
On top of that, we’ve got people quite openly declaring “Israel first” or putting the global ummah ahead of any loyalty to this country. Again, they are free to believe what they like as private citizens. But can someone whose ultimate allegiance is to Israel, or to a global religious bloc, or to some transnational ideology really be trusted to wield power over the English people?
I’ve watched this for decades: the slow shift from “MPs and councillors serve their local people” to “MPs and councillors serve their ideology, their foreign cause, their party – and if you object, you’re the problem.”
An English constitution worth the name has to say, clearly:
- Public office in England requires primary allegiance to England.
- No split loyalties. No “England when convenient”.
Anything less is an invitation for imported conflicts and external loyalties to tear us apart.
4. Imported Conflicts, English Streets
If this all sounded theoretical 20 years ago, it isn’t now. Just look at what’s happening on our streets.
We’ve had:
- Jewish ambulances outside a synagogue firebombed – a straight‑up antisemitic arson attack linked to overseas tensions.
- Hindu–Muslim clashes in cities like Leicester, with groups marching under religious banners, chanting slogans from foreign politics, and turning English streets into proxy battlefields.
- Huge marches and counter‑marches over Gaza, with people more animated by flags from thousands of miles away than by what is happening to their own neighbours.
This is what happens when you build a “nation of strangers”. People bring in their historic grievances, then act them out here, while the state wrings its hands and the police walk on eggshells.
I remember when local arguments in England were about schools, bins, local taxes, maybe the odd bitter row over the miners’ strike or the poll tax. Now we are dealing with sectarian tensions that have nothing to do with our historic English story.
The English constitution betrayed means the basic peace order of this country no longer comes first. Instead, the state bends over backwards not to offend anyone, while ordinary English people feel like strangers in the place their grandparents helped build.
5. The Forgotten Principle: Office For Those Rooted Here
Our ancestors were not naïve. They understood that who holds power matters. That’s why we had laws that limited foreign control over English offices.
The classic example is the Act of Settlement 1701, which said that people born abroad – even if naturalised – couldn’t sit in Parliament or hold key offices of trust unless they were born to English parents. The message was clear:
- If you want to rule here, you must be rooted here.
- No flood of foreign courtiers and “advisers” running the show while ordinary English folk look on powerless.
Today, anything even close to that principle is smeared as “racist”. But the original aim wasn’t to police skin colour; it was to prevent divided loyalty and outside capture of our institutions.
When I look at local councils stacked with people whose emotional and political centre of gravity is somewhere else, or at police forces terrified of enforcing the law evenly because of religious or ethnic pressure, I can’t help thinking those old lawmakers understood something we’ve forgotten.
Bringing power back home means updating, not copying, that principle:
- You live here.
- You’re rooted here.
- Your first loyalty is to England and her peace.
Only then do you get to wield authority over English people.
6. England First: What A Tough‑Love Reset Would Actually Mean
Saying “England first” is easy. Turning it into a serious programme is harder – but it can be done. Here’s what a tough‑love, English‑constitution reset could look like in practice:
- An English Parliament and Government
Not another talking shop, but real self‑government: tax, migration, policing, constitutional questions decided by an English legislature accountable only to the English electorate. No more hiding behind “the British government” when the English are the ones footing the bill. - Primary Allegiance Test For Public Office
If you want to be a councillor, MP, senior police officer or judge, your primary allegiance must be to England. That means:- No active political office in a foreign state.
- No public declarations that some external nation or religious bloc comes before this country.
- Clear, enforceable standards – break them, you’re out.
- Re‑anchoring Law In English Principles
Bringing back the spirit of Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights:- Real limits on government power.
- Stronger protections for free speech, assembly and due process.
- No more “emergency” powers that magically never end.
- Re‑asserting English Cultural Norms
You come here, you live by our rules. That doesn’t mean forced assimilation into some fake monoculture, but it does mean:- The law applies equally, whatever your group.
- No special treatment for imported sectarianism.
- Schools and public bodies teaching England’s history and constitution unapologetically.
Tough love means exactly this: we say “yes” to those who are ready to put England first, and “no” to those who want to treat this country as a convenient base while serving other masters.
This is what the English constitution betrayed needs – not more reports and commissions, but a hard reset based on the idea that the English people are a nation with the right to govern themselves.
7. Scotland’s Exit As England’s Chance
There’s a final piece to this: Scotland.
Scotland is edging closer to independence whether Westminster likes it or not. If and when they go, the Acts of Union are effectively ripped open. The “United Kingdom” as we’ve known it ceases to exist in meaningful form.
For a lot of people in England, that sounds frightening. I don’t see it that way. After 45 years of watching this, I see an opportunity:
- The chance to admit the British experiment has run its course.
- The chance to stop pretending that one parliament can be Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish and English all at once.
- The chance to say: “Right. England now stands as herself again. Let’s put in place a settlement that reflects our history, our rights, and our expectations of those who rule over us.”
If the union is breaking anyway – and it is – then clinging to the old British shell is just postponing the reckoning. Better to face it head‑on and rebuild on honest terms.
That’s what bringing power back home really means. Not just leaving one bloc or another, but recognising that the English people exist, have a constitution, and have every right to demand that it is honoured again.
Conclusion: England Doesn’t Have To Be An Island Of Strangers
The English constitution betrayed is not a dry academic phrase. It’s what you feel when you walk down a high street that doesn’t feel like home, watch foreign conflicts spill onto our roads, or see politicians bending the knee to every cause under the sun except the English nation itself.
But this isn’t inevitable. We are not doomed to be a nation of strangers. We can choose to:
- Put England first in our institutions and our laws.
- Demand that public office is held only by those whose first loyalty is to this country.
- Recover our constitutional backbone – Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the principle that rulers answer to the people, not the other way round.
My call to action is simple: stop apologising for caring about England. Start talking, plainly and publicly, about bringing power back home – to the English people, under an English constitutional settlement that protects us from being ruled by strangers, for strangers.
If we don’t do it, nobody will do it for us.
FAQs
1. What do you mean by “the English constitution betrayed”?
I mean the slow process where our historic protections – limited government, loyalty to the English people, and clear restraints on power – have been hollowed out by the British state, supranational bodies, and a political class that no longer thinks in “England first” terms.
2. Isn’t this just nostalgia for the past?
No. The point isn’t to freeze England in the 17th century. It’s to recover the core principles – rule of law, limited power, allegiance to the nation – and update them for modern realities. Every serious country guards who rules it and on what terms. England should too.
3. Does “England first” mean hating other countries or communities?
No. It means exactly what it says: if you hold power here, your first duty is to England and her people. You can like other places, honour your heritage, or practise your faith. You just don’t get to put those things above the peace, safety and sovereignty of this country.
4. How does this differ from British nationalism?
British nationalism wants to keep the UK together and treats “British” as the main identity. An English‑first approach says: the primary political community is the English nation. Any wider union or cooperation has to serve English interests, not replace them.
5. What practical steps can ordinary people take?
Talk openly about England as a nation. Support candidates who are clearly England‑first. Challenge the idea that loyalty is optional. Learn and share the basics of our constitutional heritage – Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the idea that rulers are under the law. Change starts with people refusing to be strangers in their own country.
If you want to start bringing power back home, I’d suggest joining Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain. It’s £20 a year. The more clear English voices inside it, the harder it is for anyone to ignore England when the policies are written. https://www.restorebritain.org.uk/join_us