BOJO BREXIT TOUR NO-GO
THE PM has abandoned plans for a tour of Europe this week to sell his new Brexit proposal.
He feels that as the EU snubbed it, flying around to meet other leaders, such as Angela Merkel of Germany, does not warrant the air miles he would notch up.
Talks between officials from both sides were canned yesterday.
An EU spokesman said: “Member states agreed the UK proposals do not provide a basis for concluding an agreement.” So Mr Johnson will stay at No10 and use a phone.
But dropping face-to-face talks fuelled suspicions that he is not serious about a deal.
In court papers, the PM says he will obey an Act requiring he seek a Brexit extension – yet Downing Street is adamant that the nation will be out by October 31.
Parliament will be prorogued on Tuesday in preparation for the Queen’s Speech the following Monday. But a Westminster source said No10 has had another run-in with Buckingham Palace over dragging the monarch there.
Mr Johnson has already had to apologise to the Queen for unlawfully getting her to prorogue Parliament for five weeks.
This time, with no majority, he could be the first PM to have a Monarch’s Speech voted down since fellow Tory Stanley Baldwin in 1924. On that occasion it was a King’s Speech. Courtiers allegedly tried to persuade Mr Johnson to cancel the State Opening until after a General Election.
The source said: “The Palace told No10 the Queen does not want to go through this again.
“If her speech will just be voted down she’d rather it didn’t happen at all. The PM shouldn’t cause her this embarrassment so soon after the Supreme Court debacle.”
A Queen’s Speech usually happens once a year but there has not been one since June 21, 2017.