The Guardian - 29.08.2019

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:2 Edition Date:190829 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 28/8/2019 21:19 cYanmaGentaYellowbl

• The Guardian Thursday 29 Aug ust 2019

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News and Sport

It now falls to us to

defend our parliament

from this abuse

Owen Jones

Page 3

Screen nudity: fi nally

we have entered an era

of equal opportunities

Rebecca Nicholson

Page 4

Meet Australopithecus

Scientists recreate the

face of humanity’s oldest

known hominin ancestor

Page 9

Strictly rejection

Despite the off ers, Adrian

Chiles will not be dancing

under the glitterball – ever

Page 3

Carrie Jones

The 16-year-old footballer

who could make her

debut for Wales tonight

Page 46

A new leaf

After summer’s excess,

autumn is the time to get

your life back on track

Page 8

Weather

Page 42

Cartoon

Journal, page 5

Cryptic crossword

Back of Journal

Quick crossword

Back of G

NEWSPAPERS

SUPPORT

RECYCLING

The recycled paper content of UK newspapers

in 2017 was 64.6%^

us

est

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Severin Carrell

Libby Brooks

Ruth Davidson is expected to quit as

leader of the Scottish Conservative

party because of her irreconcilable dif-

ferences with Boris Johnson over Brexit

and the pressures of motherhood.

Scottish Tory sources said an

announcement was imminent. David-

son was “considering her position”,

one source added, although he

stressed it was not connected to John-

son’s decision to prorogue parliament.

“Ruth will make her decision clear

in due course, and there will be no

further comment this evening,” her

spokesman said last night.

Davidson made it abundantly clear

during the Tory leadership campaign

that she did not believe Johnson was

the right UK party leader, with some

of her close allies describing him as a

“disaster” for the Scottish Tories.

One of Johnson’s fi rst acts as prime

minister was to sack her close friend

and ally David Mundell, who served

as Scottish secretary for fi ve years.

Davidson was reported to be “livid”

Labour has said it will not table a vote

of no confi dence unless it is convinced

of success – deemed unlikely while

potential Tory rebels focus on block-

ing no deal through legislation.

Donald Trump waded into the row

yesterday, fresh from showering praise

on Johnson at the G7 summit in Biarritz

over the weekend. The US president

claimed it would be “very hard” for

Corbyn to win a no-confi dence vote,

because Johnson was “exactly what

the UK has been looking for”.

One senior Labour fi gure speculated

that Johnson’s rationale might be to

show he had been forced into a gen-

eral election. “Buckle up, summer’s

over,” he said. But Downing Street

insists Johnson is focused on getting

a new deal and determined not to go to

the polls before Brexit day. “We have

been very clear that if there’s a no-

confi dence vote, he won’t resign. We

get to set an election date. We don’t

want an election, but if we have to set

a date, it’s going to be after 31 Octo-

ber,” said a senior government source.

The fi rst hint that something was

afoot came when the chancellor,

Sajid Javid, cancelled a major speech ,

announcing instead that a slimmed-

down spending review would take

place next week.

Johnson’s cabinet were only

informed of the decision to suspend

parliament in a conference call yes-

terday morning – after he had made a

request to the Queen. Downing Street

insisted this had been the standard

approach to planning a Queen’s speech

for previous governments.

During the call, he stuck to the line

that the suspension was simply aimed

at paving the way for his new govern-

ment to press on with its domestic

agenda. No dissent was expressed,

the Guardian understands – though

one senior Tory source said Amber

Rudd was “more reserved” than oth-

ers. They said the culture secretary,

Nicky Morgan, was “as enthusiastic

as [arch-Brexiter] Andrea Leadsom”.

The health secretary, Matt Han-

cock, faced ridicule on Twitter, with

his letter to fellow candidates during

the Tory leadership contest calling on

them to rule out prorogation being

widely shared. The letter said that

“a policy on Brexit to prorogue par-

liament would mean the end of the

Conservative party as a serious party

of government ”.

The rebels’ plan for averting a

no-deal Brexit leans heavily on the

assistance of Bercow. In an extraor-

dinary intervention for the Speaker,

whose role demands political neutral-

ity, Bercow said Johnson’s move was a

“constitutional outrage”.

He said: “ It is blindingly obvious

that the purpose of prorogation now

would be to stop parliament debating

Brexit and performing its duty in shap-

ing a course for the country .”

The rebels believe Bercow, who

is often accused of trying to thwart

Brexit by Eurosceptic MPs, will grant

a request for an emergency backbench

debate – known as an SO24 – on the

fi rst day parliament returns – Tuesday.

An amendable motion could then

be voted on in a matter of days. If suc-

cessful it would pass to the Lords who

would be required to sit in emergency

sessions over the weekend of 7-8 Sep-

tember. It must have received royal

assent before parliament is prorogued,

or the Commons would have to start

again from scratch on 14 October.

Johnson said MPs would get the

chance to vote on the outcome of the

key 17 October European council meet-

ing, at which he hopes a new deal will

be agreed, on 21 and 22 October – lit-

tle more than a week before exit day.

News Pages 4-7 

Journal Comment Pages 1-4 

at Mundell’s sacking and went on to

issue a defi ant challenge to Johnson

on the eve of his fi rst visit to Scotland

as prime minister, pledging she would

refuse to back a no-deal Brexit.

In her regular column for the Scot-

tish Mail on Sunday she also promised

she “will not be backward in challeng-

ing Mr Johnson’s government where I

think they are getting it wrong”.

A prominent remain campaigner,

Davidson famously clashed with John-

son in televised debates during the

European referendum campaign in

2016, accusing his leave campaign of

telling “untruths” about the EU.

It remains unclear whether David-

son will stay on as an MSP. She won

Edinburgh Central unexpectedly in

the 2016 Holyrood byelection largely

thanks to her popularity and her appeal

to latent Tory voters. However, she had

a majority of just 610 votes over the

Scottish National party (SNP), which

would be very confi dent of winning

the seat in a byelection where Brexit

and the prospect of Scottish independ-

ence were the defi ning issues.

Holyrood is braced for the results

of today’s Scottish parliamentary

by election in Shetland, where the SNP

hopes to win a seat held by the Liberal

Democrats for 20 years. A win for the

SNP would leave the Scottish fi rst min-

ister, Nicola Sturgeon, with 63 seats,

tied with all other opposition parties.

If the SNP won a byelection in Edin-

burgh Central, the fi rst minister would

win a parliamentary majority.

Davidson, the fi rst openly lesbian

party leader in the UK, gave birth to

her fi rst child, conceived with her part-

ner, Jen, following IVF treatment, last

October. As a state-educated woman

in a party controlled by privately

schooled men, she has delivered pre-

viously unthinkable electoral success

for the Scottish Tories at both Holy-

rood and Westminster.

Last September Davidson published

her fi rst book, Yes She Can, a collection

of interviews with “mould- breaking

women”, in which she revealed that

she was diagnosed with clinical

depression as a teenager, and dis-

cussed the continuing management

of her mental health.

Davidson drew criticism from oppo-

sition politicians, including Sturgeon,

for not giving media interviews yes-

terday following the prorogation

announcement.

Davidson’s allies would not be

drawn to speak publicly before her

own statement today, and privately

only expressed admiration for her

leadership and sadness at her decision.

Several years ago she was touted

as a potential leader of the UK Con-

servatives and a future prime minister,

although she repeatedly rebuff ed sug-

gestions she would soon look for a safe

Westminster seat.

Davidson

expected

to resign

as Scottish

Tor y leader

Outrage at surprise

decision by PM to

suspend parliament

 Continued from page 1

▲ Ruth Davidson said Boris Johnson

was the wrong man to lead the Tories

Petition launched

A petition calling on the

government not to prorogue

parliament had already been

signed by more than 800,

people last night. It was launched

by Mark Johnston , a pro-EU

campaigner from Reigate in Kent.

In some areas, such as Edinburgh,

Glasgow, London and Sheffi eld,

more than 2% of constituents

had signed, according to a map

attached to the petition.

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