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'We the people' deserve something better than a high-class villain's charter

Yesterday, the Guardian published Anthony Barnett's damning analysis of a document being hailed as the foundation of a codified constitution.

"Gus O'Donnell's cabinet manual is not in any way a draft of a democratic constitution. It is a manual for British dictatorship."

The cabinet secretary, Gus O'Donnell, has just issued a 150-page draft cabinet manual that sets out how we are governed. Yet the manual states clearly that it is "written from the perspective of the executive branch of government" and presents parliament as above the rule of law. You can read Anthony Barnett's damning analysis of a document being widely hailed as the foundation of a codified constitution here, in the Guardian.

openDemocracy Author

Niki Seth-Smith

Niki Seth-Smith is a freelance journalist and editor. She’s currently on the publishing team at Ignota Books. She also writes fiction and is interested in the intersection of fact, myth and narrative.

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