In the Summer edition of This England [2002] we inserted a special leaflet alerting our readers to the imminent launch of a vital court action which will challenge the whole legal validity of Britain's 30-year involvement with the European Union. This followed three years of extensive research by a small group of dedicated patriots under the guidance of a top legal team.

We invited freedom-loving people throughout the English-speaking world to take part in this new Constitutional "Battle for Britain" by contributing to a fighting fund which we had set up to carry the case forward.

Within a few weeks of the magazine's publication more than 4,000 readers had sent in letters of support and separate donations ranging from a couple of pounds, sacrificed by widows and old age pensioners, to a few four-figure sums from other deeply concerned people, not all of whom could be called wealthy. As we go to press with this edition our "Constitutional Challenge" fund has already surpassed the amazing sum of £100,000 and is still growing!

As a result, we have been able to place initial funds with the instructing solicitors (Burges Salmon, of Bristol) enabling this unique action to commence its long legal journey which - with further funding - will take it up to the highest court in the land - the House of Lords.

Case papers have been prepared to allow the first phase of the challenge to proceed, under the direction of a leading constitutional lawyer, Mr Leolin Price, CBE, QC, assisted by Mr Keith Lindblom, QC, and it is expected that the main hearing will commence later in the Autumn.

The named plaintiffs in the case will be representing all those who have assisted in bringing the legal action to this stage, or contributed to the funding. They will be known collectively as the "Defenders of the Realm".

The principal aim of the case is to seek Judicial Review of the actions of successive governments who, it will be claimed, have acted unlawfully since 1972 by progressively surrendering our national independence, sovereignty and legal system, to a foreign power, in contravention of the British Constitution and our ancient Bill of Rights.

We shall seek to re-establish the paramount sovereignty of the people in accordance with the Constitution and the rule of law. For no-one, whether he is King or Commoner, is above the law of the land.

Parliament has no authority or power to ignore, over-ride, breach, transfer or surrender our sovereignty to a foreign entity. The Crown no longer enjoys unlimited power. Neither, therefore does Parliament which is required to govern and administer, uphold and defend the best interests of the people - as their servants, not their masters.

A wealth of case and statute law has been amassed, supported by the opinions of learned constitutional experts, and there seems little doubt in logic that the plaintiffs have the makings of a winning case.

Furthermore, we believe that the devolution of Scotland and Wales, the regionalisation of England, and the planned surrender of Gibraltar to Spain, are also unlawful, and we shall be seeking legal redress on these major constitutional issues too.

Without question this will be the most important constitutional case in British legal history since the trial of the Seven Bishops in 1688, which directly led to the bloodless but "Glorious Revolution" and the drafting of the Bill of Rights - still the main pillar of our freedom and democracy. In those distant days our forebears were threatened by an over-mighty monarch. In the past thirty years we have been ruled by a succession of over-mighty governments who have ignored their duty under oath to the Crown and the people.

Continued funding is vital to ensure that no legal avenue is closed to us in our pursuit of the truth, by which we hope to define the law and re-establish the constitutional safeguards of the British people. If you or your friends wish to play a part in this action and join the Defenders of the Realm, please send your name and address, plus cheque (made payable to "Constitutional Challenge") to This England, PO Box 52, Cheltenham, GL50 1YQ.

If we win this historic action, and some constitutional experts feel we have at least a 50% chance of doing so, all who have taken part by contributing to our fund will be sent a signed certificate registering them as a Defender of the Realm. Until then, let us recall Shakespeare's famous words given to King Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt: "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead!"

Elsewhere in this publication we are reminded of the wise and warning words of the Roman Senator, Cicero, who, over 2,000 years' ago wrote: "A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not as a traitor - he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and garments, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation - he works secretly and alone in the night to undermine the pillars of the city - he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared."

Postscript added on 7-1-07:
The Times of 18-12-02 reported that, "The Defenders of the Realm, a Eurosceptic group, lost an attempt to challenge ratification of the Treaty of Nice. They are to appeal against the High Court ruling that government adoption of the latest European Union treaty could not be challenged in Britain's courts."
We can't remember if they appealed, but they were ultimately unsuccessful.