I never thought I would live to see a Prime Minister of the UK tell Parliament that one of the bills it passed and has gained the Queen’s consent was irrelevant. That is the way kings and queens who think they have a divine right to govern behave. It is not how democratic British Prime Ministers have ever previously behaved. Instead of obeying the law and hundreds of years of British democratic tradition Johnson has decided to rip up the idea that elected MPs decide the fate of this country. Instead of obeying the decisions of Parliament he is attacking the institution’s right to make decisions and telling people that Parliament has voted for a surrender act so must be ignored.
This is dangerous stuff. We have an Attorney General opening telling Parliament that he thinks it is dead. We have a Prime Minister telling the public that their MPs are traitors. We have lies and cheating institutionalised. We have a British Prime Minister telling the Sunday Telegraph that judges need to be politically vetted before they are appointed. Hours after the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Parliament is sovereign and the Prime Minister must never be independent of it the Prime Minister says that he disagrees. He then goes on to repeat his biggest lie of the moment. The one that promises he will obey the law whilst in the next sentence saying that he will do something regardless of what that law says. It looks increasingly likely that the way that he will do this is to declare a state of national emergency. In other words he’ll manufacture a crisis and cancel a decision of Parliament.
This goes way beyond any concerns anyone might have about Brexit. I might disagree with someone who says that we voted out so must now get out, but I can respect their point of view. I believe the British public narrowly said that it wanted to have some lovely promises delivered. It has proved impossible to deliver what was promised. So that same British public must now have the right to vote again on whether we want to call the whole thing off. We are entitled to a second referendum to say whether we want no deal, Johnson’s deal or no Brexit and the only fair way of doing that is to use a single transferable vote. Many perfectly honest and decent people think differently and believe we must leave because that’s what the referendum said. That is a legitimate dispute and it ought to be perfectly possible to have a civilised discussion about the merits of both attitudes without casting each other into the darkness.
What can never be legitimate is to say one year that you are voting out in order to protect Parliamentary sovereignty and the next that you want to ignore Parliament. That puts at risk our entire future as a democracy. Nor can it be legitimate to say that because the highest court in the land unanimously rules that Parliament is sovereign and the PM is subject to its control that we turn on the judges and attack them. That puts at risk our entire future as a country with the rule of law.
If Johnson succeeds Parliament and the courts become a sideshow. He will establish a firm precedent that the Prime Minister is above petty controls and limits. That is dangerous in the extreme. What would supporters of Johnsons attempted coup make of it if Corbyn were to win the next election and to try and assume similar powers? If one side plays fast and loose with the unwritten constitution why won’t the other.
People from all sides of the political spectrum need to stand up for the rights of Parliament to scrutinise and control government before it is too late.
What I believe is going to happen now isn’t pretty. Johnson could well fail to get a deal out of Brussels, blame that on the traitors in Parliament and the courts and the pesky EU and then go to the country. It is entirely possible that he will succeed in shifting the blame for the ensuing chaos and we’ll be saddled with a Johnson government with no meaningful checks or balances for at least five years and a weakened Parliament and judiciary for decades.
Alternatively, he could come back from Brussels with a few extra clauses added to May’s agreement, get a Parliament scared by the chaos of no deal to rubber stamp it and go to the country as the man who finally got us out. Since nothing much will happen on 31st October if there is a deal he’ll be able to tell the country we were worrying too much and he’s the wise far sighted leader who will take us to the sunny uplands. He’s already started promising us oodles of money. His entire election campaign will consist of lovely sweet lies and there is every possibility people will buy those lies.
There is, however, a third alternative. The British public may not like being lied to. They might take against a small cabal trying to grab power and do away with proper controls. The character of the Prime Minister might become a significant issue in any future election. The British sense of fair play and decency might kick in and result in us kicking out a Prime Minister. Johnson could get sacked a third time for lying. Voters might decide that they don’t want someone in charge of the country who isn’t in charge of his own sexual drive.
That is why the sex scandal about Johnson’s use of public money matters. It is why pictures of Johnson staring at a TV camera saying “the press isn’t here” are important. It is why his sister and brother both questioning his character is significant. Why a respected former Prime Minister like John Major telling us we are dealing with a deeply dodgy person who lies to the Queen is a major event.
Boris Johnson cheated on his second wife whilst she was dealing with breast cancer. He bullied staff to give money and access to influential meetings to a past mistress. He took part in a phone call where he discussed whether to bump off a journalist. He told us that when we left Europe we would both have cake and eat it. He told us if we voted for Brexit we’d get the easiest deal ever. It has been proved at the highest court that he lied to Parliament and to the Queen.
Are the British public really such idiots that they are going to believe him when he stands on the election and says that he will provide lots of money for public services and he’ll run the greenest government ever? Or will they smell and see a rat and vote him out of office?
I genuinely think that the vast bulk of ordinary people have had enough of his chaotic aggressive approach. This isn’t getting things done. This is arrogant incompetence and a drive to replace democracy with personal rule. Regardless of their views on Brexit, it is in the interests of every single democrat in this country that Johnson fails.