Page 12
TORY grandee Kenneth Clarke yester-
day said Boris Johnson’s controversial
decision will galvanise bickering
Remainers into action.
He spoke as the backlash continued
over the PM’s decision to suspend Par-
liament for up to five weeks.
Mr Clarke said: ‘It should have the
effect of getting the majority of the
House of Commons who think a No Deal
Brexit would be a calamity, actually
get together to agree some compro-
mises between themselves, actually
decide firmly what they are going to
provide a majority to do and I hope
they do it in legislation.
‘I hope that we get the time actually
to pass that legislation properly.’
The Tory veteran also suggested he
could vote against the Government in a
vote of no confidence if that’s what it
took to stop No Deal. ‘If it’s the onlyway of stopping us plunging into the
disaster of a no-deal Brexit, yes,’ he
said. It came as Mr Johnson suffered his
first ministerial resignation after a peer
quit over the decision to suspend Par-
liament. Lord Young, a minister in the
Thatcher government who also served
under John Major and David Cameron,
he said he was ‘very unhappy at the
timing and length of the prorogation,
and its motivation’.
In his letter of resignation from his
position as a whip in the House of Lords,
he added: ‘I have been unpersuaded by
the reasons given for that decision,
which I believe risks undermining the
fundamental role of Parliament at a
critical time in our history.’
Lord Young, who was environment
minister under Thatcher before being
sacked, insisted he was not part of any
‘Remainer plot’.(^) Daily Mail, Friday, August 30, 2019
Johnson’s phone call to Queen
after plan leaked out early
Author Pullman forced to say
sorry for ‘hang Boris’ tweet
Suspension will finally spur
Remainers into action – Clarke
BORIS Johnson has told allies he is
ready to use every available tactic to
prevent Parliament forcing through
another Brexit delay next week.
Remainer MPs, assisted by Commons
Speaker John Bercow, are expected to
make a bid for an emergency law that
would require him to seek an extension of
Britain’s leaving date beyond October 31.
A string of Tory MPs yesterday indicated
they were ready to join forces with Jeremy
Corbyn to force through the move – includ-
ing David Gauke, Guto Bebb, Richard Har-
rington and Kenneth Clarke.
But senior party sources said the Prime
Minister had made it clear he would never
request another Brexit delay, believing it
would undermine hopes of a deal and betray
his campaign pledges.
One Government source said: ‘One of
Theresa May’s big mistakes was to continue
playing by Queensberry Rules while Bercow
and the Remainers spent months tearing up
the rulebook. We are not going to make the
same mistake.’
Battle plans drawn up in Downing Street
include a number of extraordinary tactics,
including asking Eurosceptic peers to talk
out the legislation in the Lords and delaying
By Jason Groves
Political Editor
a request for Royal Assent, pre-
venting it becoming law before
Parliament is suspended next
month. Mr Johnson has also
requested legal advice on whether
his constitutional right to conduct
international negotiations on
behalf of the Queen would overrule
any law passed by MPs.
‘We are not seeking an extension
under any circumstances,’ one
source said. All Tory MPs have
been placed on a three-line whip
for next week in order to respond
to any parliamentary tricks by
opponents. Peers have also been
warned they could face a number
of gruelling all-night sittings.
And ministers are braced for pro-
Remain MPs to try to seize more
time by extending sitting hours
through next weekend.
Former Tory minister Nick Boles
last night said he would support
such a move in both Houses next
week in order to force the legislation
through before Mr Johnson pro-
rogues Parliament. The warning
came as Remainer MPs stepped up
preparations for a last-ditch bid to
rule out a No Deal Brexit next week.
Commons leader Jacob Rees-
Mogg also mocked pro-EU MPs for
their ‘confected’ outrage over Mr
Johnson’s controversial decision to
suspend Parliament for up to five
weeks ahead of a Queen’s speech in
mid-October.
‘All these people who are wailing
and gnashing teeth know that
there are two ways of doing what
they want to do,’ he said.
‘One, is to change the govern-
ment and the other is to change
the law. If they do either of those
that will then have an effect.
‘If they don’t have either the cour-
age or the gumption to do either of
those, then we will leave on the
October 31 in accordance with the
referendum result.’
Mr Corbyn responded by confirm-
ing the so-called Remain Alliance
of MPs would try to start the proc-
ess of legislating against No Deal
on Tuesday, when MPs return from
their summer break. Attacking Mr
Johnson’s ‘smash and grab raid
MPs are looking to pass a new law
ordering Mr Johnson to seek
another Brexit delay of at least six
months, allowing time for a poten-
tial second referendum.
Former justice secretary Mr
Gauke yesterday told the BBC Mr
Johnson did not have a mandate
for leaving the EU without a deal,
adding: ‘It does look like next week
is essentially the only opportunity
that Parliament will have to main-
tain some control over this process
and ensure that it has a say before
we leave without a deal.’
Guto Bebb, another former min-
ister, indicated he could even back
a vote of no confidence in Mr John-
son’s government, saying: ‘As Con-
servatives we prize loyalty. But it
has become increasingly clear that
our loyalty must be to our party’s
long-term values and not to the
man who leads the party at this
time.’ Labour frontbencher Barry
Gardiner said the truncated parlia-
mentary timetable meant it would
now be ‘very difficult’ to pass the
emergency legislation in time.
And a senior Lords source
acknowledged it would be hard to
pass laws in the time available if
Mr Johnson encourages Brexiteer
peers to filibuster the debate.
‘When the last legislation of this
kind was passed the then prime
minister was willing to play ball on
the timetabling, provided her back-
benchers had their say,’ the source
said. ‘We are in very different terri-
tory this time and it is going to be
more difficult.’ The source also said
it was ‘perfectly possible’ that Mr
Johnson could spark a fresh consti-
tutional row by refusing to seek
Royal Assent for the legislation even
if it cleared Parliament.
Comment – Page 16
Call to arms: Kenneth Clarke yesterday
BATTLE FOR BREXIT
SIR Philip Pullman was yesterday forced to
deny advocating Boris Johnson’s hanging
in a remark on Twitter.
The author caused a backlash after writ-
ing: ‘When I hear the name “Boris John-
son”, for some reason the words “rope”
and “nearest lamp-post” come to mind.’
Sir Philip, 72, later said he was sorry for
having made a ‘tactical error’. The tweet,
which followed the Mr Johnson’s decision
to suspend Parliament, has since been
deleted. The author of the His Dark Materi-
als trilogy yesterday said he wanted to
make it ‘perfectly clear’ he did not want to
kill the Prime Minister. He tweeted: ‘I don’t
advocate hanging Boris Johnson. I think
that would be a very bad idea.’
But several Twitter users criticised his
‘non-apology,’ with some saying they had
reported his original tweet to the police.
Tory MP Robert Courts called it ‘sick per-
sonal abuse,’ saying: ‘You always know
that people have lost the argument and
have little0 intellectual confidence in their
case when they resort to hideous lan-
guage like this.’
THE Prime Minister was forced to ring
the Queen to tell her he wanted to sus-
pend Parliament after the news leaked.
Jacob Rees-Mogg and other ministers
were on a plane to see her at Balmoral when
it started to leak out at around 9am on
Wednesday. An announcement about the
Government’s plan had not been due until
the afternoon.
The leak meant Mr Johnson had to bring
forward a phone call to the Queen to ask her
to prorogue Parliament so that she would
know about it before it was on the news.
Brexiteers demanded to know whether a
Remain-friendly civil servant in Downing
Street had leaked the news to opposition
By Liz Hull
MPs. Only six Cabinet ministers knew the
plans in advance. Mr Rees-Mogg, the Leader
of the Commons, boarded the flight to
Aberdeen at 8.45am on Wednesday.
He was accompanied by Baroness Evans,
the Leader of the Lords, and Mark Spencer,
the Commons Chief Whip, on the trip to ask
the Queen to prorogue Parliament.
But even as the flight set off, MPs and
journalists were hearing rumours about the
plan. After the PM had phoned the Queen,
he had to hold a conference call with Cabi-
net ministers to inform them.
By Daniel Martin
Policy Editor
Revealed: How
Boris plans to
skewer rebels
Smash and
grab raid’
against our democracy’, the Labour
leader said: ‘What we’re going to
do is try to politically stop him on
Tuesday with a parliamentary
process in order to legislate and
prevent a No Deal Brexit and also
to try and prevent him shutting
down Parliament during this
utterly crucial period.’ Remainer