AS PROCEEDINGS in the United Kingdom Supreme Court go, it was a rip-snorting judgment. An absolute hammering. A rout. Unanimously, the full court of eleven justices struck down Boris Johnson’s decision to prorogue Parliament. They decided that nothing, including an
exercise of the Royal Prerogative, is above the law.
The justices sensibly refused to be drawn into considering whether Boris Johnson might be ‘the Father of Lies’ (see John 8:44), as Aidan O’Neill QC breathlessly argued in last week’s hearing, or indeed any other manifestation of Satan. Boris could fairly argue that lies were
almost certainly knocking about the place for some time before either he or the Vote Leave campaign showed up, and that however lax his control either of his language or his zip, he couldn’t possibly be father to them all.
But lies, the justices decided, were irrelevant. Whatever Boris might have thought he was doing by closing the doors of Parliament for five weeks, it had the effect of stymying Parliament. The effect on MPs’ ability to hold the Government to account was ‘extreme’.
Doing that without a good reason is not lawful.
Giving judgment, Baroness Hale wryly explained that considering the Prime Minister’s motivation was impossible, as he hadn’t provided evidence offering the court a good reason, or indeed any reason. If Boris declined to do so out of some looming anxiety that it
might involve siring one or two more gorgeous, bouncing little lies, that formed no part of the court’s reasoning.
Whether or not Boris is a liar, his Parliamentary opponents have been just as disingenuous in their attempts to thwart him from carrying out Government policy. Just as divided as the nation when it comes to Brexit, Parliament has fallen back on a strategy of tricks and
mischief, intending to inflict the maximum political damage on Boris before an election is ultimately held.
MPs have three times refused to back the only available deal with Brussels, and have now also legislated three times to stop ‘no deal’. The first go was April’s Cooper-Letwin legislation, successfully compelling Theresa May to seek an Article 50 extension she would
have willingly sought anyway.
In August, Parliament inserted a tricks-and-mischief requirement for the Government to report at fortnightly intervals on progress in re-establishing the Northern Ireland executive; the intention being to make it impossible to prorogue Parliament. The Government
obviously found a way around that trick, though nobody now quite remembers how.
Undeterred, just before it wasn’t prorogued Parliament enacted trick three; a riff on Cooper-Letwin to the effect that, if no deal is in place by 19 th October, Boris must abase himself before the Euro-panjandrums and humbly request a further extension to Brexit. The
opposition hope this will demolish his credibility, reinvigorate Farage’s ghastly gang of frauds and improve Labour’s currently dismal electoral prospects.
This is only a particularly cunning plan if an extension is likely to be forthcoming. As things stand, it’s very hard to see what possible appeal it holds for the EU 27, who are utterly exasperated with the chaos across the channel. Another extension that decides nothing will
be refused.
This isn’t a plan for dealing with Brexit. It is a disgrace. It is also playing with fire. If Parliament is reposing all its confidence in getting another extension with nothing to show for it, MPs should be revising that plan with some urgency. The current strategy has not
removed the possibility of a no deal exit. Thinking otherwise is foolish complacency.
On Wednesday, when the Parliament that was never prorogued ‘resumed’ at the command of the Speaker, the Government’s frustration boiled over.
The Attorney-General, Sir Geoffrey Cox QC, had every reason to be red-faced given that it was his duff advice –to the effect that the prorogation was legally absolutely fine– Boris followed in proroguing Parliament (to be fair to the Attorney, no two legal commentators
agreed on what the Supreme Court would do, and absolutely no-one predicted an eleven nil pasting).
In the event, when Labour MPs started taking the mickey his face went from its usual Wetherspoons mauve to something troublingly Vesuviuan. Blowing indignation from every fumarole and vent, he blasted a pyroclastic flow of un-Parliamentary invective towards the
opposition benches.
Boris went even further, and rather extraordinarily appeared to say that MPs had to do what he wanted in order to guarantee their physical safety.
This charade is doing neither the Government nor the opposition any good. Labour cannot continue running scared of the electorate, and can’t rely on tricks to avoid us crashing out of the EU without a deal. Boris must have his election, and Parliament should legislate for this to be held on the same day as a second referendum. This would either give Brexiters an unassailable mandate, or demonstrate that democracy means allowing voters to change their minds.
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