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20 April 1653
After the Rump Parliament introduces a Bill for a new Parliament, the army is still unsatisfied because it has not received the pay owing to it. Impatient with Parliament's procrastinations, Oliver Cromwell and a group of soldiers forcibly dissolve it. 'Take away this bauble,' he says, pointing at the mace, symbol of Parliament's authority. — • — [Cromwell dissolved the Rump Parliament] with violent suddenness, rushing through Whitehall in a red-faced fury dressed in a plain black coat and grey worsted stockings, accompanied by musketeers ... Raging up and down ... he kicked at the floor and emitted a tirade of insults. Some MPs, he said, were whoremasters; some ... were drunkards, others corrupt and unjust, and they had better all go ... By midday the House was cleared and the tantrum over. The doors were sealed and some joker pinned up a poster reading, 'This House is to be let: now unfurnished.' From A Century of Troubles by Stevie Davies (Channel 4 Books) |
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