8 LISTENER SEPTEMBER 14 2019
BULLETIN FROM ABROAD
to take over legislative procedures so
as to block a “no deal” Brexit. And
Johnson has responded by calling an
election – the very thing he promised
not to do. The public is, on balance,
against parliamentary suspension,
but in support of Johnson. If that
sounds like a contradiction, it is, and
one that’s symbolic of a confused and
conflicted nation that is exhausted by
this never-ending drama.J
ohnson has now declared war on
Parliament and offered the public
a choice between “no deal” and
the deeply unpopular Leader of the
Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn.
All of this does have echoes, how-
ever faint, of Charles I, who dissolved
Parliament in the 17th century and
then fell out with it over the issue of
Ireland. Hence the English Civil War
and Charles’ beheading.
Of course, Johnson is no king, and
he’s rather cleverly hidden behind the
Queen, who is officially responsible
for the proroguing. Yet, although
he’s in no danger of decapitation,
many wonder if he has already
lost his head. An election is an
all-or-nothing play.
If he wins and somehow
manages to extract concessions
from the Europeans, he’ll no
doubt be portrayed – not least
by himself – as a figure of
Churchillian standing. If he
loses, his political career is over.
If he wins but fails to land a deal,
it’s quite possible that Britain
will undergo a political and
economic meltdown. l‘C
ivil war”, “a coup”, “a
dictatorship”: politicians
and pundits have certainly
not maintained the British
tradition of understatement in
describing Boris Johnson’s most
recent attempt to thwart his
opponents in Parliament. A master
of hyperbole himself, the Prime
Minister has been on the receiving
end of some rather exaggerated
accusations since he performed
a controversial constitutional
manoeuvre known as prorogation.
Most people in the UK have
managed to live long and fulfilling
lives without ever using the verb “to
prorogue”. Not any more. You can
barely get through a conversation
on the weather without hearing
it mentioned. Derived from the
Latin word for prolong, in English
it means, paradoxically, to bring
a parliamentary session to a close.
Parliament is usually prorogued- or suspended – once every year,
before the head of state announces
the government’s legislative
programme in the Queen’s Speech.
The difference is that this
year, Johnson, who, remember,
is an unelected prime minister,
has prorogued Parliament for a
record five weeks, thus severely
shortening the time available for
his opponents to pass legislation
preventing a “no deal” Brexit.
His supporters claim that as
Parliament would be adjourned
for three weeks anyway for the
Boris Johnson risks
all with his general
election call.
Betting the country on Brexit
Johnson has
offered the public
a choice between“no deal” and the
deeply unpopular
Jeremy Corbyn.ST
EV
E^
BO
LT
O
N
party conference season, it’s no big deal.
But it is. Not a civil war, not a coup, but a
rather cunning attempt by the PM to get his way
without the hindrance of parliamentary oversight.
Johnson’s bargaining method with the EU has been
brinksmanship. If a trade and customs agreement
is not reached, he says, the UK might suffer, but
so will Europe, so it’s in Europe’s interest to accede
to British demands. But they’ll do so only if they
know the UK is serious about being prepared to
leave without a deal.
His critics said he was gambling with the
country’s economic future. And, as the Europeans
have insisted many times that they won’t change
the substance of the withdrawal deal agreed with
Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, then Parliament
was determined to prevent Johnson from effectively
walking the country off a cliff.
It was Johnson who famously said that May’s
deal was like wrapping “a suicide vest around
the British constitution”. He went one better and
wrapped a suicide vest around the British economy
and, with the prorogation, sent the bomb-disposal
team away for five weeks, leaving an anxiously
short time in which to defuse an explosive Brexit.
But, at the time of writing, Parliament has votedANDREW
ANTHONY
IN LONDON
Andrew Anthony is an Observer
feature writer and is married to a
New Zealander.