When I was at school impeachment was synonymous with Warren Hastings.
As a student of 1066 and All That I knew impeachment was A Bad Thing, if you were on the wrong end of the charge. I may have known he was acquitted after a seven year trial. I did not know, because I wasn’t up to Mr Kidson for History divs, the kernel of the case against him. It was to decide whether ideas of absolute power and conquest in pursuit of the exclusive national interests of the colonizer, or sovereignty based on a recognition of the rights of the colonized should prevail. Edmund Burke (a good egg) promoted the latter ideology. Hardly surprisingly his philosophy failed as the former policy had served empires and conquerors from time immemorial; he was ahead of his time. I was given a v good book about Burke among others: The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age (Leo Damrosch, 2019). I haven’t, but should, read Jesse Norman’s biography – Edmund Burke: The First Conservative.
But I have somewhat wandered. Impeachment in the United States has been on the agenda in my lifetime and earlier. When Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998, I regarded it as a serious charge. I did not realise it would be determined by the House of Representatives (requiring a majority vote) and the Senate where a two-thirds majority is needed. “Fat chance”, you say and you are right. Three US Presidents have been impeached ( Andrew Johnson, 1868; Bill Clinton, 1998; Donald Trump twice, 2019 and 2021) and all were acquitted by their political cronies. Furthermore the acquitted President at the end of his term can pardon convicted felons. Clinton pardoned almost four hundred in his two terms in office. Two are oil traders: Pincus Green and Marc Rich. He also pardoned his own half-brother. If this seems excessive it is worth remembering his recent predecessors handed out even more pardons. It’s about time these 19th century measures, so anomalous today, are abandoned. In this country impeachment was used in the 14th century and the procedure was last used, unsuccessfully, against Lord Melville in 1806.
“The Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege Report stated, in 1999, that ‘the circumstances in which impeachment has taken place are now so remote from the present that the procedure may be considered obsolete.’
Impeachment operated in an era when Parliament and the courts had very limited oversight of government power. Different mechanisms have developed in modern politics to allow for the scrutiny of the executive. These include parliamentary questions, inquiries by select committees and independent committees of inquiry. The growth of the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility, and the use of confidence motions have both contributed to the disuse of impeachments in modern times. Judicial review also now provides an effective check on the legality of the actions of public officials and government ministers.” (UK Parliament, Briefing Paper, 2016)