Queen would have ‘dodged’ election move by Johnson

THE late Queen would have been “unavailable” had Boris Johnson tried to call an election to cling to power during his final days in office, sources have claimed.

A snap election was among scenarios war-gamed by Downing Street during the collapse of Mr Johnson’s administration in July.

However, the reigning monarch can block prime ministers from going to the polls in line with the Lascelles Principles, which guard against unnecessary and aggravating election requests.

Mr Johnson dropped heavy hints on July 6 that he would face the public at the ballot box amid attempts to oust him from No 10, even though the sovereignwould have been able to find another who could govern “for a reasonable period” with a working majority.

A new book, by journalist and author Sebastian Payne, claims a “magic triangle” – Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, and Edward Young, the Queen’s Private Secretary – stood ready to prevent this scenario.

A Whitehall insider is quoted as saying: “If there was an effort to call an election, Tory MPS would have expected Brady to communicate to the

‘It would have been politely communicated that the Queen could not come to the phone’

Palace that we would be holding a vote of confidence in the very near future and that it might make sense for Her Majesty to be unavailable for a day.

According to a second source, it would be “politely communicated” that the Queen “couldn’t come to the phone” if she received a request for a call about dissolving Parliament.

But there was no need because Mr Johnson opted against a general election, quitting on July 7.

Mr Payne’s book, The Fall of Boris Johnson, published on Thursday, also deals with the departure of Simon Hart as Welsh Secretary on the last full day before Mr Johnson’s resignation.

Shortly after Mr Hart urged Mr Johnson to step aside, he is said to have received a call from one of his junior ministers, who informed him he had just been offered the secretary of state role himself by No 10.

Mr Hart had not quit at that point but the call proved to be the final straw and he proceeded to tweet his resignation letter while sitting on a park bench.