Boris Johnson Denies Lying to Queen as Top Court Rejects No-Deal Challenge
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has denied lying to Queen Elizabeth II over the reasons for suspending the United Kingdom’s Parliament, following multiple legal challenges to his mooted Brexit strategy. Westminster was prorogued, or suspended, on Monday until October 14, a move Mr Johnson’s opponents said was designed to thwart their attempts to scrutinise his plans for leaving the European Union and to allow him to push through a no-deal Brexit on October 31.
Parliamentary prorogation refers to the formal end of a parliamentary session, and in the UK, the Queen exercises the right to deny or accept a prorogation request by the Government of the day.
According to the House of Commons library, British prorogation has been a formality for over a century.
On Wednesday Scotland’s highest court of appeal ruled the suspension was not lawful and was intended to stymie MPs, prompting opponents to question whether Mr Johnson had lied to the Queen, who must formally order the prorogation. “Absolutely not,” Mr Johnson said when asked if he had misled the Queen, who is constitutionally obligated to sit above politics. He said the current session of parliament was longer than any since the English Civil war in the 17th Century, adding that MPs would have plenty of time to again discuss Brexit after an EU summit on October 17 to 18. The UK’s last parliamentary session has sat for three years, but that period pales in comparison to Westminster’s longest sitting period, which ran without prorogation between 1640 and 1653. That Parliament arranged the trial and subsequent execution of King Charles I, and the period only ended when English Civil War leader Oliver Cromwell sent troops in to remove MPs. Mr Johnson explained that prorogation was needed to allow his Government to present its legislative programme. But the publication of the Government’s no-deal Brexit scenario prompted calls from Labour and other opposition parties for the prorogation to be rescinded.