The Sunday Mail - 01.09.2019

September 1 • 2019 The Mail on Sunday^ COMMENT 39

DAN Hodges

I

t took two phone calls to
convince Boris Johnson he
would have to press the
nuclear button and prorogue
Parliament. ‘It was after
he got off his second call
with two of the European
leaders,’ a Johnson ally reveals.
‘He just turned and said, “they
don’t think we’re serious about
No Deal. they think Parliament
will block it. they don’t think they
need to move.” ’
this morning Britain stands on
the brink of a second civil war. the
kamikaze Remainers are heading
for the barricades – quite literally

• in an attempt to prevent the usur-
  pation of democracy. Bridges are
  to be seized. Streets occupied. the
  Prime Minister’s ‘declaration of
  war will be met with an iron fist,’
  announced Lib Dem Brexit spokes-
  man tom Brake.
  And, once again, the kamikaze
  Remainers are allowing self-right-
  eous outrage to blind them to reality.

Despite the hysterical talk of a hard-
Brexit ‘coup’, Mr Johnson hasn’t
prorogued Parliament in order to
force through a No Deal Brexit. He
has prorogued Parliament precisely
so he can drive through a deal and
avoid a No Deal Brexit.
‘Boris told me he now thinks
there’s a 50-50 chance of getting
the EU to move on the backstop,’
explains a Minister who spoke to
Mr Johnson in the hours after the
prorogation plan was unveiled.
‘But the obstacle is Parliament. If
the EU thinks Parliament will take
No Deal off the table, then there’s
no need to give concessions. So his
strategy is to bring everything to a
head. Let the MPs take their shot,
face them down, then say to the

Has sonia Khan become Dominic

Cummings’s admiral Byng? Westminster

was rocked on Thursday by the news that

savid Javid’s most senior adviser had been

marched out of Downing street under armed

guard, after being accused of leaking

Treasury secrets.

But friends claim she has been made a

scapegoat as a warning to other Government

officials. In 1757, admiral John Byng was

executed by firing squad to send a message to

the rest of the Royal Navy that cowardice in

the face of the enemy would not be tolerated.

‘Cummings has done a Byng on her,’ a

Westminster adviser tells me.

‘He warned us all a few weeks ago that

anyone who stepped out of line would be

dragged out of No 10 by the police, and

that’s exactly what’s happened.’

Downing street insiders deny this, saying

Khan is a ‘serial leaker’. But one Minister

disagrees: ‘she’s a true professional. she

supports Brexit. The idea that she’s been

undermining Boris is ridiculous.’

The big question is whether Javid will now

take a stand on behalf of his deposed aide. ‘If

he takes this lying down, his credibility will

be destroyed,’ a colleague tells me.

Is The saj prepared to fight for admiral

Byng to be pardoned?

Sonia gets the Admiral Byng bullet

EU, “Right, it’s up to you now.

Do you want to help me take

No Deal off the table or not.” ’

For the past few months Boris

has been telling everyone who will

listen that ‘theresa May’s deal is

dead’. But the truth is May’s deal

is not dead. the backstop – a key

component, admittedly – is indeed

suffering rigor mortis. the Prime

Minister has been clear that there

can be no sleight of hand over

codicils or time limits. It has to be

completely ditched.

But the rest of the May deal

remains on life support. As one

Johnson aide phrased it: ‘the back-

stop isn’t the only problem, but it’s

certainly one of the main ones.’

Which is why, while the Remain-

ers have been rushing around

drawing up wild plans to seize

control of the nation’s arteries,

Conservative backbench Spartans

have been quietly expressing their

own concern. ‘Removing the back-

stop alone is not enough to secure a

deal worth supporting,’ Steve Baker

tweeted on Friday. Concern that is

fully justified.

‘the Spartans are finally realising

they’re about to get f*****,’ one

Minister acknowledged. Another

explained: ‘You can see why Boris

went for the reshuffle he did. If

Priti Patel had been given a junior

job, she’d never have accepted

dumping the backstop was enough.

But she’s not going to walk away

from the Home office.’

over the past week, the Remain-

ers have been subjecting the Brit-

ish people to a mandatory history

lesson. We have been told that we

are reliving 1653, when oliver

Cromwell marched into the Com-

mons and ordered MPs out at the

point of a flintlock.

But as we stampede towards yet

another national crisis, recent his-

tory is probably more relevant.

It was Parliament that voted to

grant the British people a referen-

dum on our membership of the EU.

It was Parliament that voted to trig-

ger Article 50 when a majority of

those people voted to leave. Five

hundred and sixty-eight of our 650

current MPs were elected on mani-

festos pledging to respect the ref-

erendum result.

It was Parliament that voted on

three separate occasions to prevent

Britain leaving the European Union

with a deal. And it was Parliament

that voted on March 26, 2019, to

take control of the Brexit process,

held a succession of votes on its

preferred Brexit model and spec-

tacularly failed to find a majority

for any of them.

All the haughty expressions of

democratic outrage we have heard

over the past few days ignore a

single, simple fact. the people of

Britain voted to leave the European

Union in the biggest expression of

popular will ever seen in this coun-

try since the introduction of the

universal franchise. And, more

than three years later, our politi-

cians persistently and pig-headedly

refuse to respect and implement

that democratic instruction.

‘Boris Johnson is acting like an

unelected dictator,’ they cry while

literally plotting to install Jeremy

Corbyn or Harriet Harman or ken

Clarke in Downing Street.

W

Ho is really

acting like the

d i c t a t o r t h i s

morning? the

person who is

attempting to

force Parlia-

ment to act in concert with the

wishes of the people who elected

them? or those who are again

attempting to impose a never-

ending parliamentary veto over

the wishes of the voters?

When are the Remainers finally

going to be honest with those vot-

ers. they do not respect the refer-

endum result. they do not want to

see a No Deal Brexit, or a soft

Brexit, or anything that even

remotely resembles Brexit. they

think that when Britain voted to

leave, Britain voted the wrong

way. But they just can’t muster the

courage to say so.

So this week they will begin their

own act of insurrection. the fact

that Mr Johnson is specifically

attempting to avoid the very No

Deal Brexit they profess to oppose

is irrelevant. they will take to the

streets. they will occupy bridges.

they will give the British people a

taste of that iron Remainer fist.

A coup is indeed under way. But

it is not being mounted by the

Prime Minister.

Britain IS in

the grip of a

coup – and

it’s being led

by fanatical

Remainers

THREAT: Lib Dem

Brexit spokesman

Tom Brake vowed

PM’s plan would be

‘met with an iron fist’

I UNDERStAND a new

transatlantic alliance has

opened up between former

Equalities Minister Penny

Mordaunt and President

trump’s daughter, Ivanka.

‘they met at a women’s

seminar and have kept in

touch ever since,’ a

Mordaunt ally tells me.

‘they both think the

pressure needs to be kept

up on Boris and trump over

gender issues.’

Boris is going to need

every ally he can to get that

trade deal. Surely it’s time to

bring Mordaunt back into

the fold?

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