Oath of Allegiance (United Kingdom): Difference between revisions

The Oath of Allegiance set out in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868 is required to be taken by various office-holders in the following form:

"I, NAME, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God."

The Oath of Allegiance is made by each of the following office-holders as soon as may be after his acceptance of office:

• First Lord of the Treasury
• Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Lord Chancellor
• Lord President of the Council
• Lord Privy Seal
• Secretaries of State
• President of the Board of Trade
• Lord Steward
• Lord Chamberlain
• Earl Marshal
• Master of the Horse
• Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
• Paymaster General
• Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland (the First Minister of Scotland)
• Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland
• Lord Clerk Register
• Advocate General for Scotland
• Lord Justice Clerk.

The Oath in England is tendered by the Clerk of the Council, and taken in the presence of Her Majesty in Council, or otherwise as Her Majesty shall direct, and in Scotland is tendered by the Lord President of the Court of Session at a sitting of the Court.

Under the Parliamentary Oaths Act 1866, members of both Houses of Parliament are required to take an Oath of Allegiance upon taking their seat in Parliament.^[1][2]

The usual wording of the oath is:

I ..... swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God.

Members who object to swearing the oath are permitted to make a solemn affirmation under the terms of the Oaths Act, 1888:

I ..... do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to law.

The oath or affirmation must be taken in English although the Speaker has allowed Members to recite Welsh, Gaelic and Cornish forms in addition.

When the oath is taken, the new member holds a copy of the New Testament or, if Jewish, the Tanakh. Muslims or Sikhs would be sworn in the usual manner except a Qur'an (in an envelope, to avoid it being touched by one not of the faith), or Guru Granth Sahib respectively would be substituted for the Bible. Mohammad Sarwar, a Muslim, took the oath in this way in May 1997.

Religious restrictions in the oath effectively barred individuals of certain faiths (e.g. Roman Catholics, Jews and Quakers) from entering Parliament for many years. The restrictions were lifted by the Oaths Act 1888 after the six-year effort (1880–1886) of the noted atheist Charles Bradlaugh to claim his seat.

Today, members of Sinn Féin elected to represent constituencies in Northern Ireland refuse to take the oath, and are therefore unable to take their seats in Parliament, due to their refusal to swear allegiance to the Queen. It is unknown whether Sinn Féin MPs would take their seats if a new Oath without any mention of the Monarch or the Crown were to be drafted, as abstentionism has taken a unique philosophical direction in the decades since Nationalist MPs began to practice it.

Section 84 of the Scotland Act 1998 requires members of the Scottish Parliament to take the Oath of Allegiance at a meeting of the Parliament. Members of the Scottish Executive and junior Scottish Ministers are additionally required to take the Official Oath.

Section 20 of the Government of Wales Act 1998 requires members of the National Assembly for Wales to take the oath of allegiance. A Welsh form of the Oath is prescribed by the National Assembly for Wales (Oath of Allegiance in Welsh) Order 1999[1]:

Yr wyf i, yn addo trwy gymorth y Goruchaf y byddaf yn ffyddlon ac yn wir deyrngar i'w Mawrhydi y Frenhines Elizabeth, ei hetifeddion a'i holynwyr, yn ôl y gyfraith, yn wyneb Duw.

The corresponding affirmation is:

Yr wyf i, yn datgan ac yn cadarnhau yn ddifrifol, yn ddiffuant ac yn ddidwyll y byddaf yn ffyddlon ac yn wir deyrngar i'w Mawrhydi y Frenhines Elizabeth, ei hetifeddion a'i holynwyr, yn ôl y gyfraith.

Judges and magistrates are required by various statutes to take the Oath of Allegiance as well as a Judicial oath.

Any person being ordained as a priest or deacon of the Church of England, or taking up any "perpetual curacy, lectureship, or preachership", is required by the Clerical Subscription Act 1865 to take an Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy. This is now, by the Promissory Oaths Act 1868, the same as the usual Oath of Allegiance.

All persons enlisting in the British Army and the Royal Marines are required by the Army Act 1955 to attest to the following oath:

I ..... swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will, as in duty bound, honestly and faithfully defend Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, in Person, Crown and Dignity against all enemies, and will observe and obey all orders of Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, and of the generals and officers set over me. So help me God.

The same oath is made by recruits to the Royal Air Force under the Air Force Act 1955, with the substitution of the words "air officers" for "generals".

No oath of allegiance is sworn by members of the Royal Navy, which is not maintained under an Act of Parliament but by the royal prerogative, or by Royal Marines officers, who unlike their Army counterparts are not enlisted before they are commissioned.

The oath of allegiance, with the addition of the words "on becoming a British citizen" (or other type of British national, as appropriate), is also used at citizenship ceremonies, where persons being registered or naturalised in the United Kingdom are required to swear or affirm their allegiance to the Queen, as above, and additionally make a pledge to follow the laws of the country and uphold its democratic values. The applicants are then presented with their certificate of citizenship.

When Martin McGuinness refused to swear the Oath of Allegiance to the British monarch he was refused his seat in the British House of Commons, and took his case to the European Court of Human Rights in 1997. The application was deemed inadmissible on the basis that the requirement of an oath of allegiance to a reigning monarch is "reasonably viewed as an affirmation of loyalty to the constitutional principles which support... the workings of representative democracy in the respondent State."^[3]

Parliamentary Opposition: An Early Day Motion (12th June 2008) to change the Oath of Allegiance, was brought before the British Parliament by 20 parliamentarians, representing over 1.45 million; English, Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh (British) constituents. This EDM arguement was widely reported in the international medium on 8th August 2008.

Early Day Motion (#1780) : "That this House recognises that the principal duty of hon. Members is to represent their constituents in Parliament; also recognises that some hon. Members would prefer to swear an oath of allegiance to their constituents and the nation rather than the Monarch; and therefore calls on the Leader of the House to bring forward legislative proposals to introduce an optional alternative Parliamentary oath allowing hon. Members to swear allegiance to their constituents and the nation and to pledge to uphold the law rather than one pledging personal allegiance to the serving Monarch".

EDM signatures: N Baker (Lib: Lewes), J Austin (Lab: Erith & Thamesmead), P Bottomley (Con: Worthing), R Campbell (Labour: Blyth), M Caton (Lab: Gower), M Clapham (Lab: Barnsley & Pennistone) I Davidson (Lab: Glasgow SW) P Flynn (Lab: Newport), A George (Lib: St. Ives), J Goldsworthy (Lib: Falmouth), J Hemming (Lib: Birmingham), M Horwood (Lib: Chaltenham), B Iddon (Lab: Bolton), B Jenkins (Lab: Tamworth), L Jones (Lab: Birminham), C McCafferty (Lab: Calder Valley, A McDonnell (SD&L: Belfast), A McKechin (Lab: Glasgow N), M Oaten (Lib: Winchester), K Purchase (Lab: Wolverhampton), A Simpson (Lab: Nottingham), J Swinson (Lib: Dunbartonshire).

Campaign group ‘Republic’ also challenges the oath of allegiance. Represented by a Human rights lawyer Louise Christian, their campaign; (“It is vital we challenge offensive & discriminatory oaths of allegiance - if our elected MPs ignore our calls we’ll take this issue to court.”) is seeking to change the law so MPs etc, can swear allegiance to the country/people, rather than the monarchy.

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