Section:GDN 1J PaGe:1 Edition Date:190830 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 29/8/2019 18:37 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
It has everything to do with Brexit. It is not just an
insult. It is a lie.
Theresa May, the leader whom Johnson treated
abominably, stood in the House of Commons, day after
day, pleading for support in honouring the vote on the
2016 Brexit referendum. She tried to ease the United
Kingdom out of the European Union with a compromise
deal respecting the diverse views of a divided nation.
She was inept and she failed.
It was Johnson and his allies – in unoffi cial cahoots
with Jeremy Corbyn – who stopped her. That Britain
is still a member of the EU is their fault. The least they
owe the country is the dignity of an orderly Brexit, not
this shambles. Instead, like a school bully suddenly
cowering in a corner, Johnson lacks the guts to do what
May did and account for himself to parliament, despite
knowing he lacks its support. To crown it all, he has
the cheek to accuse those opposing a no-deal Brexit
of being “undemocratic ”.
Behind this week’s antics reputedly lies the hand
of Johnson’s Rasputin, Dominic Cummings , ruling
Downing Street while Johnson enjoys himself on social
media and orders the Treasury to release billions in
election bribes. The prime minister and his colleagues
are ordered simply to incant “leave on 31 October ”,as once they did “£350m for the NHS ”. When we
saw Michael Gove bare facedly deny that proroguing
parliament had “anything to do with Brexit ”, we could
almost see Cummings’ strings in his back. It is an echo
of Alastair Campbell and Tony Blair.
Is this a constitutional coup? The consensus, says
Jonathan Sumption , formerly of the supreme court,
is that Johnson is behaving unconstitutionally but
not unlawfully. The constitutional reality is that a
referendum can only be consultative , with parliament
delegating to itself the honouring of the outcome. No
one told the electorate what sort of Brexit was involved.
It was for parliament to decide that. It decided against
no deal but it then put into Downing Street a man who
disagreed with it. Now it has left it too late to call that
man to account.
Johnson’s prorogation is a blatant admission of
democratic opposition to no deal. If that opposition
weakens his negotiating hand, tough. He should have
won the support of the Commons in advance. He may
have a majority of his own Tory MPs behind him, but he
knows this is not a majority of parliament or a majority of
voters. A majority of a majority can still be a
minority. Johnson’s supposed mandate for
no deal is an electoral Ponzi scheme.The Amazon is burning. But Greta gives us hope Rebecca Solnit, page 3
I’m taking the PM to court to stop this power grab Gina Miller, page 4
How the informal prison economy works The long read, page 9
The Guardian Friday 30 August 2019
Opinion
and ideasG2
Daily
pullout
life &
arts
section
InsideSimon
Jenkins
Only one person can avert a
no-deal Brexit: Boris Johnson
This is not well done.
The prime minister, Boris
Johnson, displays cowardice
and mendacity in insulting
parliament with enforced
suspension, and then in
claiming that it has nothing
to do with Brexit.
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