Boris Cabinet may resign to force election
BORIS Johnson is drawing up plans to collapse his government in a last ditch bid to force a General Election.
The PM will demand the Cabinet resigns with him on Friday, October 18, if the EU won’t give him a Brexit deal.
He is gambling on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn being unable to form a temporary government within the 14 days required by law.
That means Britain would go to the polls in December.
Although Mr Johnson would quit as PM he would remain Tory leader so he could fight the election.
Because the chaos would cover October 31, when Britain is due to leave the EU, Labour are determined to get a threemonth extension to stop the UK quitting with no deal. But if Mr Johnson has resigned as PM he will not have to write a letter asking for delay required by law.
This means Commons Speaker John Bercow would do it instead, postponing Brexit until January 31, 2020.
The crunch comes when the PM faces the EU Council on October 17 and 18.
MPS have ordered him either to come up with a deal or ask for an extension.
Mr Johnson says the UK will leave the EU on
October 31, deal or no deal.
That’s when his civil servants would put him on the spot by either resigning or demanding a public declaration from the PM that they were ordered to become lawbreakers.
Mark Serwotka, head of civil service union PCS, added: “We have raised this issue with the Cabinet Office and they recognise there is a potential problem with civil servants breaking the law. It’s a deplorable situation for our members to be left in.”
The PM is instead trying to find loopholes which would allow him to legally refuse to ask for an extension.
One ruse is to use EU law to trump the “no to no-deal” ruling passed by MPS.
Another possibility uncovered by Sir John Major is to get ministers in their role as Privy Councillors to suspend the “no to no-deal” legislation until after Brexit.
But critics say such a move is insulting to the Queen because the Privy Council answers to the Crown.
Constitutionalist David Rogers said: “How Boris Johnson could have the brass neck to treat the Queen like that is beyond belief.”
The SNP is now trying to persuade Labour to join it in ambushing Mr Johnson in a no confidence vote this week while the Tories are at their conference in Manchester. The SNP is prepared to accept Jeremy Corbyn as interim PM.
But the Liberal Democrats oppose empowering Mr Corbyn, even temporarily.
Meanwhile, complaints were made to police after Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage told an audience in Newport, Gwent, he’d “take the knife” to civil servants after leaving the EU.
He said many in Whitehall were biased against Brexit.
Police said they will not take action against him.
EU reports are warning the PM that his planned ten British freeports could turn into havens for terrorists and money launderers.
Freeports allow firms to import goods and re-export them outside normal tax and customs rules. The Lib Dems’ Ed Davey said: “The PM must drop this ludicrous idea.”