Oliver Cromwell had dissolved the Rump Parliament in April 1653,
after disputes about the form of the representative body that
should replace it, and how it should be elected. It was first
replaced by the Nominated Assembly, a non-elected body based on the
Old Testament idea of 70 ruling 'saints'. Divided between moderates
and radicals, however, it quickly became unworkable, and its
moderate members soon engineered its dissolution. The
constitutional void left by the collapse of these experiments led
to Oliver Cromwell being proclaimed Protector. The first Parliament
of this new system met in September 1654, and was a uni-cameral
body of 460 MPs, including 30 representatives from each of Scotland
and Ireland.
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