The Guardian - 07.09.2019

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:7 Edition Date:190907 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 6/9/2019 19:02 cYanmaGentaYellowbla

Saturday 7 September 2019 The Guardian •

7

A bad week for Johnson

Where next for Brexit?

How did this

week pan

out?

Are we

getting an

election?

What is

N o 10’s

plan now?

What

happens

next week?

Has this been

a bad week

for Boris

Johnson?

Will Brexit

happen on

31 October?

Will the PM

extend

Brexit?

It began with a cross-party group of backbench rebels

threatening to seize control of the Commons timetable

to push through a bill seeking to block a no-deal Brexit.

Downing Street warned that any Tory MPs backing

the plan would be ejected and that a general election

would be called. On Tuesday, 21 Tories helped the

timetabling motion pass, and were duly kicked out.

The next day the bill passed the Commons and Boris

Johnson called for an election, but failed to reach

the required two-thirds majority. By Thursday, with

the bill going through the Lords, he used a rambling

speech in Yorkshire to pledge another attempt to push

an election. This was just after his own brother had

quit the government. The week ended with opposition

parties agreeing to again thwart the snap election and

Johnson wrangling cows in Scotland.

The brief answer is: probably yes, but not yet. Johnson

is adamant that an election should happen before the

crunch European council summit on 17 and 18 October,

with 15 October his preferred date. Labour and the SNP

initially seemed minded to support this, provided they

could secure guarantees against government ruses

to force no deal on 31 October. After much thought

the combined opposition view is on Monday to again

deny Johnson an election and only agree once a Brexit

delay has been defi nitively secured – meaning later

in October or November. Other methods of forcing an

election are possible, but have signifi cant drawbacks.

It would seem not. The rebel bill, due to get royal

assent on Monday, dictates that if by 19 October

the government has neither passed a new deal nor

received MPs’ consent for no deal, it must seek an

extension to 31 January (longer if required by the EU

and agreed by parliament). This will be the law.

Johnson insists he won’t, saying that he would rather

be “dead in a ditch” than do so. However, he has

also said he will follow the law. There is, obviously,

a contradiction in all this, and the way out remains

unclear. One theory would involve Johnson resigning

• N o 10 has not explicitly ruled that out – and allowing
  opposition parties to potentially struggle in building
  a temporary government, then move to an election.
  More unlikely proposals feature someone else being
  dispatched to Brussels to agree the extension in
  Johnson’s place, such as the Speaker, John Bercow, or
  even the Queen.

For the moment, it seems to be the venerable political

tradition of ploughing on day by day in the hope

something turns up. Publicly, offi cials will not look

beyond Monday’s attempt to set off an election and

the associated media blitz aimed at labelling Jeremy

Corbyn a coward, complete with mocked-up chicken

pictures. It is entirely plausible that they still don’t

know quite what to do if compelled to seek a new

Brexit deadline.

Beyond Monday’s vote, the timetable is opaque. The

parliamentary suspension is due to begin at any point

up to Thursday, but can be decided on day by day. MPs

will be buying open return rail tickets.

It’s not been great. The culling of 21 generally loyal and

sometimes very senior MPs has gone down badly with

a fair section of the parliamentary Conservative party,

who view it as another sign of the malign infl uence of

chief aide Dominic Cummings. Johnson has also now

lost every single Commons vote as PM, watched his

own brother Jo leave government, and delivered one of

the more rambling and chaotic speeches seen in recent

UK politics, which infuriated police for being a nakedly

partisan address to a backdrop of uniformed offi cers.

On the same day, one of his ministers, Jacob Rees-

Mogg, angered doctors by comparing a senior doctor

who raised worries about no deal to a disgraced anti-

vaxxer. Police and doctors are generally seen by voters

in a much more favourable light than politicians.

Peter Walker

Jonathan Freedland

‘These are the three

questions that will

decide the next election

and, with it, the fate of

Brexit.’

Marina Hyde

‘Why do people still

call it a Tory “split”on

Europe? It’s not a split:

it’s an episiotomy The

Tory episiotomy went

septic this week’

Journal

nd

e

tion

e of

l

”on

plit:

The

ent

Gauke also strongly criticised the Tory
party’s direction under Johnson.
If Johnson did resign, the Queen
would be expected to ask Corbyn to
try to form a majority government.
The Labour leader has mooted the
idea of leading a short-term caretaker
government, in order to extend arti-
cle 50 and call a general election. But
many members of the rebel alliance
have concerns about backing a Cor-
byn-led administration, even for a
short period.
There was further embarrass-
ment after it emerged that Johnson
referred to David Cameron as a “girly
swot” in a recent cabinet paper. The
leak of an unredacted version of court
documents to Sky News prompted
condemnation of the prime minister
for sexist insults.
During his inaugural prime min-
ister’s questions on Wednesday,

Johnson seemed to call Jeremy Corbyn

“You great big girl’s blouse” in relation

to the Labour leader’s refusal to back

an immediate general election.

The other reference dates back to

16 August, appearing in a handwrit-

ten note about the idea of suspending

parliament for fi ve weeks.

The document was initially revealed

on Thursday by Downing Street as it

resisted legal challenges in Edinburgh

and London to the prorogation of par-

liament. Both cases were eventually

won by No 10.

In Aberdeenshire yesterday, at the

end of a bruising week, Johnson was

asked twice whether he would sack his

chief strategist, Dominic Cummings,

after the former prime minister Sir

John Major described him as a “poi-

son” at the heart of government on

Thursday night.

Johnson did not answer the fi rst

question on his adviser’s future but

pressed a second time refused to give

Cummings his unambiguous support.

He answered: “Look ... advisers, as I

think someone said in the Commons

the other day, advisers advise and min-

isters decide.”

He was also asked about his own

future after a tumultuous week dur-

ing which he suspended 21 Tory MPs,

including the former chancellor Ken

Clarke ; his younger brother Jo Johnson

stepped down from the government

and as an MP ; and other senior Tories

announced their retirement.

His brother cited irreconcilable

confl icts between his family and the

national interest.

Asked about his failure to uphold

his pledge during the Tory leadership

campaign to unite the party, John-

son said he had promised to “deliver

Brexit, unite the country and defeat

Jeremy Corbyn. And that’s what we’re

going to do.”

Asked again when he would resign,

he said: “Er ... well ... I think after those

three objectives have been accom-

plished I will ... At some point after

those three objectives have been

accomplished.”

‘Boris is broken. We

have an opportunity

to bring him down

and we must take it’

Liz Saville Roberts
Plaid Cymru

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