Daily Mail - 30.08.2019

Page 14

THEY’RE HYS

With Parliament thrust

into crisis, the need for

constitutional expertise is

paramount. Step forward the

celebrity Remainer luvvies,

whose howls of outrage are

more petulant than ever...

PHILIP PULLMAN, author: ‘The Prime

Minister has finally come out as a

dictator. I’ve had enough of being

outraged. We must get rid of him and his

loathsome gang as soon and as finally as

possible. When I hear the name Boris

Johnson, for some reason the words

“rope” and “nearest lamp-post” come

to mind as well.

[Pullman was later forced to clarify: ‘Just

to make it perfectly clear: I wouldn’t kill

the Prime Minister, and I don’t want

anyone else to. But I don’t apologise for

the anger I feel; only for its intemperate

expression.’]

JAMES O’BRIEN, LBC radio presenter:

‘What’s happened so far happened because

the people with the strongest opinions about

EU membership turned out to be the ones

with the weakest understanding of it. What

happens next depends on the same people’s

willingness to admit to career-long ignorance.

I’m not optimistic.’

PALOMA FAITH, singer: ‘Please sign

this petition against this ridiculous

UK dictatorship.’

ED MILIBAND, former Labour leader:

‘Suspending Parliament to prevent the

expression of the will of elected representa-

tives is what autocrats and dictators do. This

attempted coup against our democracy to

impose a No Deal Brexit cannot be allowed

to stand.’

FINANCIAL TIMES editorial: ‘History has

shown that charlatans, demagogues and

would-be dictators have little time for

representative government.’

Still wondering what to make of

the PM’s bold gambit? Then revel

in the handkerchief-clutching,

over-the-top outbursts of anti-Boris

bien pensants as they weep and wail

on social media and TV – and they

may make up your mind for you!

ALL have squealed ‘constitutional

outrage’ but they, too, have

been guilty of breaking

political protocol...

SIR JOHN MAJOR

ThE former Tory PM says he’s

prepared to take the Government

to court if it prorogues Parliament.

Yet while in No 10, in 1997, he was

accused of abusing his power by

proroguing Parliament for the

longest period since 1918 so as to

delay the publication of an

embarrassing report into the ‘cash

for questions’ sleaze scandal

involving his Government.

JOHN BERCOW

COMMONS Speaker Bercow has

condemned the decision to suspend

Parliament as a ‘constitutional outrage’

which he will fight with ‘every bone in

my body’. But he broke usual

parliamentary precedent in January

when he is said to have ignored advice

from his officials to permit an

amendment being tabled to the draft

Brexit deal. Ministers accused him, too,

of deliberately attempting to frustrate

the Government’s attempts to pass

Theresa May’s Brexit deal by selecting

pro-Remain amendments to be voted on

and of making Commons procedure up

as he went along.

GINA MILLER, anti-Brexit

campaigner: ‘These actions are more

akin to dictatorship than democracy

and as such their legality must be

tested in the courts.’

PAUL MASON, former economics

editor of BBC2’s Newsnight: ‘To

stop Farage and Johnson

destroying our democracy we

need not just an alliance in

Parliament: we need to get on

the streets... and if it comes

to an election — a one-time

tactical voting pact for the

progressive majority.’

LORD (BOB) KERSLAKE, former

head of the Civil Service: ‘We are

reaching the point where the Civil

Service must consider putting its

stewardship of the country ahead of

service to the government of the day.’

JOHN SIMPSON, BBC world affairs

editor: ‘Just back from the WiFi-

free South African wilderness to

find a full-scale constitutional

crisis under way. Downing Street

assured the BBC on Sunday that it

was entirely false to claim

Parliament would be prorogued.

Is truth just going out of

the window?’

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL, Tony Blair’s

No 10 spin doctor: ‘The campaign

Take Back Control was meant to be

about parliamentary sovereignty,

we’ve had an Old Etonian Prime Min-

(^) Daily Mail, Friday, August 30, 2019
HYPOCRISY
OF THOSE
WHO BROKE
PROTOCOL
Stephen Fry
@stephenfry
Weep for Britain. A sick, cynical, brutal and
horribly dangerous coup d’état. Children
playing with matches, but spitefully not
accidentally: gleefully torching an ancient
democracy and any tattered shreds of
reputation or standing our poor
country had left.
WithhParliamentthrust
You will not f with my children’s future.
You will not destroy the freedoms my
grandfather fought two world wars to
defend. F off you over-promoted
rubber bath toy. Britain is revolted
by you and you [sic] little gang
of masturbatory prefects.
Hugh Grant @Hac
kedOffHugh