I fear this is a move that the Government will come to regret

Is Boris Johnson’s decision to ask the Queen to suspend Parliament for a few weeks really a “coup” or “constitutional outrage”? Hardly. A tactical use of long‑established rules is a more accurate description. Many Brexiteers will support him for acting decisively, in an attempt to stymie the anti‑democratic efforts of parliamentary Remainers. But I can’t help worrying that we may come to regret it.

One day he, or another Tory, might find themselves sitting in the Leader of the Opposition’s place in the Commons confronting Prime Minister Jeremy Corbyn, John Mcdonnell or Rebecca Long‑bailey. How is he going to react when they announce that they have asked the Queen to prorogue Parliament to stop an expected no confidence vote or prevent opposition to some Marxist piece of legislation?

That is the trouble with interpreting the rules to your advantage, especially when we have an unwritten constitution. Try something once and it tends to become convention – your successors will assume the right to do it, too. When the Conservatives find themselves in opposition, they will have lost all moral right to complain about the attempts of subsequent governments to twist the rules in this direction.

Moreover, suspending Parliament leaves Boris open to a powerful counter‑ argument. Wasn’t leaving the EU supposed to be all about regaining parliamentary sovereignty from Brussels? He campaigned for Leave on the slogan “Take Back Control”. For most voters that will sit uneasily alongside the image of a British Prime Minister seizing back control from Parliament.

It is debatable whether he even needed to protect himself from the Commons, in this way. It is plain that the counter‑revolutionary forces of Remain are

hopelessly divided and will fail to agree on anything. Some want to reverse the referendum, others just want to avoid a no‑deal. Corbyn wants to bring about his socialist dream, Caroline Lucas wants her eco‑feminist paradise and the SNP want to exploit Brexit in order to force their own referendum.

Would it not have been better to let the Remainers have another go at seizing control of the Commons? The last time, remember, MPS failed to back a single alternative to a no‑deal Brexit.

He could have let them have their votes on staying in the EU, entering a customs union and what‑ have‑you. And if he succeeds in negotiating a deal with Brussels he could have put it before the Commons with a clause ensuring that the alternative was no deal.

Had MPS voted to force him to go back to Brussels and ask for an extension to Article 50, he could have gone – and refused to pay another penny, ensuring his request was rejected.

All this might happen anyway when Parliament reconvenes.

But it will now be against the backdrop of the accusations that the Prime Minister has ruthlessly tried to override parliamentary democracy.

Whether true or not, it is a charge which is going to stick with many people.

I can see why it is so tempting to play the arch‑remainers at their own game – using every ruse to get their way.

But while proroguing Parliament for a month is far from the constitutional outrage which it has been portrayed, I fear it is a move the Government may come to regret.

follow Ross Clark on Twitter @Rossjournoclark; read More at telegraph.co.uk/opinion