With Ken Clarke’s warning ringing in our ears, we must ask: When does democracy turn into dictatorship?

The point of parliament is more than just having an election every four or five years and allowing a government to do what the hell it likes, writes Sean O’Grady

Lord Clarke warned that overturning a Supreme Court ruling could see the UK slipping into an ‘elected dictatorship’ (Parliament TV)

At a time when Donald Trump and Joe Biden are giving old age a bad name, it is refreshing to see Ken Clarke, now ensconced in the House of Lords at the age of 83, reminding us that there is such a thing as an elder statesman – and you get to be one by talking common sense.

Always robust and lively, he’s not quite as mobile as he was – but that acute political mind is as keen as ever. He tells it like it is. He also tells the government that it is making a fool of itself over the Rwanda plan and is threatening grievous bodily harm on our poor old battered constitution. He got to the heart of the matter: warning that overturning a Supreme Court ruling could see the UK slipping into an “elected dictatorship”.

He has heard, as we all have, quite enough self-serving nonsense about the “sovereignty of parliament” and the “will of the people”. The doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty is a complicated one – and obviously up for debate – but it should never be the case that a prime minister with a majority in the Commons (normally achieved on a minority of the vote) can do what he or she wishes. Using the argument that the Commons is “sovereign” and it is therefore the “will of the people” doesn’t wash.