Brexit rebels force PM to fight fire with fire
IF aliens had suffered the cruel misfortune of landing their spaceship in Westminster yesterday, they might have been forgiven for concluding Britain was in the grip of a corrupt and merciless tyrant.
Listening to the hysterics of the Remain irreconcilables, the bemused extraterrestrials would infer Boris Johnson was a ‘tin pot dictator’ and ‘revolutionary’ casually ‘silencing opposition’ by throwing our cherished democracy under a bus.
The Prime Minister’s crime? He had sought, and been granted, permission to suspend Parliament before holding a Queen’s Speech on October 14.
With priceless irony, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell denounced the move as a ‘coup’ (though how intriguing that the unrepentant Marxist agitator never gripes when hard-Left fellow travellers actually overthrow elected governments). Maybe he should swap his copy of Mao’s Little Red Book for an Oxford English Dictionary. This defines a coup as: ‘A sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power.’
By contrast, proroguing Parliament is an entirely normal procedure – especially for a new government on taking power – which is signed off by the head of state.
Indeed, a Queen’s Speech will be the perfect opportunity for Mr Johnson to refresh voters’ memories about his impressive domestic policy agenda ahead of a potential general election – on policing, infrastructure, schools and the NHS.
At the same time, he can illuminate the dangers of Jeremy Corbyn entering No10 to conduct an economically destructive experiment in socialism – possibly in diabolical alliance with the SNP. Of course, no one should be so naïve as to think Boris’s timing wasn’t, simultaneously, a deliberate tactic to limit the room for manoeuvre of MPs intent on sticking two fingers up to more than half the population by sabotaging Brexit.
No, the Mail is not glorying in this sobering, significant step. Leave campaigners always insisted quitting the EU meant regaining Parliamentary sovereignty – not circumventing it. But in truth, what choice has he got? Only 24 hours earlier, a tawdry alliance of anti-Brexit MPs boasted of seizing control of Commons legislation to stop No Deal. Yet maintaining the threat of walking away gives No10 huge clout in negotiations.
It’s no surprise the EU has now signalled it may offer concessions – particularly on the deeply unpopular Irish backstop. But the undemocratic Remain ‘ultras’ have no real interest in a deal. Their barely-hidden goal is to overturn the referendum result. No wonder the PM is fighting fire with fire.
In an unedifying spectacle, biased Speaker John Bercow threw a tantrum from his holiday sun lounger and condemned the ‘constitutional outrage’. Can this be the same preening popinjay who egregiously tore up centuries of Commons procedure to undermine Theresa May’s determined efforts to leave the EU? It certainly can. Remain- supporting MPs accuse Mr Johnson of breaking convention. But when they collude with the Speaker (whose car displays a ‘B******s to Brexit’ sticker), that’s fine and dandy. And aren’t those moaning at the ‘constitutional outrage’ the very same people who only a few days ago were trying to install Ken Clarke as PM? Has Mr Johnson wrong- footed his opponents with his high-risk strategy? They now have just days to pass a law demanding the PM asks Brussels for an extension. With the connivance of the Speaker, this is not impossible.
Another danger is that suspending Parliament may have swayed Tory rebels to join a no confidence vote. Nevertheless, Mr Johnson has certainly sent another message that he is deadly serious about leaving – come hell or high water.
Nonetheless, with only 63 days until Brexit, our Parliamentary democracy is entering dark, uncharted territory.