By Iain Fraser - Consultant Editor
City of London Newsroom
The Johnson Government was sent reeling yesterday after the UKs Highest Court ruled the proroguing of Parliament by Prime Minister Boris Johnson was indeed "unlawful". The historic judgement declared that the Prime Minister was wrong to suspend the current Westminster session.
Johnson has returned early from the UN Summit in New York after meeting with US President Donald Trump to face multi-faceted calls for him to resign after the Judgement was announced.
In a reaction statement after to the judgment he said that he "profoundly disagreed" with Tuesday's landmark ruling but he would respect it. However, Chancellor Sajid Javid has had the temerity to suggest that Johnson should prorogue parliament again in the coming days to "ensure he can secure a Queen’s Speech."
The Supreme Court decision attracted wide-scale criticism primarily from BoJo sycophant & self styled constitutional "authority" Jacob Rees-Mogg who was one of three Cabinet ministers who travelled to Balmoral to advise the Queen to prorogue is expected to make a statement to MPs on the ruling today.
He accused the justices of a 'constitutional coup' going on to criticise them for making fundamental errors on the basis that ‘some elements of the judgment are factually inaccurate’. Comments that resonated throughout the day with the Prime Minister and his inner sanctum of cronies comments, while Attorney General Geoffrey Cox who advised Boris Johnson on the entire proroguing process said that the ruling overturned decades of precedent saying that ‘any prorogation over the past 50-100 years would have survived today’s judgment.’
The Judgement
The Unanimous Judgement, delivered at 10:30 BST yesterday [Tuesday, 24th September] by Supreme Court President, Justice Lay Hale said that the ‘effect of the prorogation upon the fundamentals of our democracy was extreme’. ‘No justification for taking action with such an extreme effect has been put before the court’. Lady Hale made clear the importance to the ruling of the Brexit deadline on October 31. She said the ‘quite exceptional circumstances’ of Brexit meant Mr Johnson’s decision had an ‘extreme’ effect on the ‘fundamentals of our democracy’.
Johnson has returned early from the UN Summit in New York after meeting with US President Donald Trump to face multi-faceted calls for him to resign after the Judgement was announced.
In a reaction statement after to the judgment he said that he "profoundly disagreed" with Tuesday's landmark ruling but he would respect it. However, Chancellor Sajid Javid has had the temerity to suggest that Johnson should prorogue parliament again in the coming days to "ensure he can secure a Queen’s Speech."
The Supreme Court decision attracted wide-scale criticism primarily from BoJo sycophant & self styled constitutional "authority" Jacob Rees-Mogg who was one of three Cabinet ministers who travelled to Balmoral to advise the Queen to prorogue is expected to make a statement to MPs on the ruling today.
He accused the justices of a 'constitutional coup' going on to criticise them for making fundamental errors on the basis that ‘some elements of the judgment are factually inaccurate’. Comments that resonated throughout the day with the Prime Minister and his inner sanctum of cronies comments, while Attorney General Geoffrey Cox who advised Boris Johnson on the entire proroguing process said that the ruling overturned decades of precedent saying that ‘any prorogation over the past 50-100 years would have survived today’s judgment.’
The Judgement
The Unanimous Judgement, delivered at 10:30 BST yesterday [Tuesday, 24th September] by Supreme Court President, Justice Lay Hale said that the ‘effect of the prorogation upon the fundamentals of our democracy was extreme’. ‘No justification for taking action with such an extreme effect has been put before the court’. Lady Hale made clear the importance to the ruling of the Brexit deadline on October 31. She said the ‘quite exceptional circumstances’ of Brexit meant Mr Johnson’s decision had an ‘extreme’ effect on the ‘fundamentals of our democracy’.
Supreme Court President, Lady Hale concluded: ‘The decision was unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions.’
"Unlawful, Void and of No Effect"
The ruling went on to confirm that Mr Johnson’s advice to the Queen to suspend Parliament for five weeks was ‘unlawful’ saying that it was ‘impossible for us [them] to conclude’ that ‘there was any reason – let alone a good reason’ to advise Her Majesty to prorogue Parliament.’ Therefore they found that the Prime Minister’s move was therefore ‘void and of no effect’.
Yesterday’s judgement was a final ruling on two separate cases, brought in England and in Scotland, against the five-week suspension of Parliament. In those cases, judges had made opposing rulings, with Scotland’s highest court saying that the Prime Minister effectively misled the Queen, while the High Court in London ruled the move was ‘purely political’ and not a matter for the courts.
"Johnson will either have to eat his words or resign or of course break the law" MC
What now for Boris Johnson?
Johnson has seriously boxed himself into a corner where there are few, if any means of escape. Calls for his resignation are mounting from all sides, we have even heard the Americanism "impeachment" mentioned.
Also is the primary catalyst in causing an historic constitutional crisis by involving the Queen in a process that has seen "her" highest court in the land rule that the entire process was "unlawful"
Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body levels charges against a government official. It does not mean removal from office; it is only a statement of charges, akin to an indictment in criminal law.
Ultimately his options are limited even if he survives "Proroguegate" he has to strike a "workable deal" with the EU before the ever looming 31st October or constitutionally and perhaps more importantly legally has to trigger a request for an "extension" and the EU agreeing is not a foregone conclusion, however, we believe that without a request from the UK government for an extension then the EU will have no option but to "suspend" the entire Brexit process.
What now for Brexit?
Ultimately the Supreme Court ruling has no specific effect on the Brexit process except to predestine Boris Johnson s and indeed the entire UK Governments reputation as being wholly untrustworthy. Whatever the semantics are, again, Johnson will either have to eat his words, resign or of course break the law"
Editors View:
Not only have these collective buffoons made the UK the laughing stock of Europe, nay the World, they have now gone on to make a complete mockery of both the Monarchy and Parliament.
As a humble observer it looks like the "Establishment" has also had a carpe-diem moment after the story broke about the "Mystery" blonde in Johnson s life, particularly it seems, particularly close throughout his time as Mayor of London. As always, watch this space. In conclusion I think BoJo has overplayed his hand but I still think he is one hell of a poker player. Yours Aye, MC.
