Westministenders: Boris Johnson Broke The Law

[RedToothBrush]

ITS OFFICIAL
The Highest Court in the Land has ruled that Boris Johnson has broken the law.

Parliament is Sovereign.

Despite the calls for his resignation it is highly unlikely he will under the current political climate.

It must be stressed that the judgement was UNAMINOUS and went further than most expected, and took the hardest possible line again the government

The power now lies with the Speakers of the Lords and Commons to decide when Parliament reopens.

It also means that all the bills which were ended by proroguation are now back in play.

Expect a full backlash from the hard right attacking the courts are going full on 'enemies of the people'. This will be NASTY

The strength of this ruling does pretty much rule out another proroguation as the courts are liable to throw it out immediately if they try it on again.

Johnson is in New York. He needs to get on a plane very quickly.

It is increasingly anti-democratic;

Something is increasingly anti democratic I'm not sure that the EU currently has the top spot for this!

I am a perfectly ordinary British person, so are the rest of friends and family. We happen to think Brexit is a pants idea.
I know other ordinary British people who think Brexit is a good plan.
There is nothing extraordinary about people on either side of this debate.

Whatever the noble ambitions on which it was founded, the EU is an anachronism.

Boris, is that you? A bit desperate to start rehashing speeches from June 2016.

Although maybe that first line does bear repeating:

You know when someone is losing an argument because they suddenly get all rattled ...

The implosion of Labour seems to have been lost in the shock and horror of the Supreme Court's judgement with even remainers expressing deep reservations about the basis of the verdict.

Expect the bailing of Steiner et al to Liberal Democrats any day now. The Labour meltdown is in full force despite the distraction.

You know they're probably frantically rubbing their crotch while reading our responses and crafting their exquisitely wordy threatening replies, right?

You always know when Johnson is lying his ass off when he says "believe you me"

Sorry if this has already been advertised.

Led by Donkeys have a book coming out at the end of October. They're hoping to eclipse Dave's autobiography sales.

They've also been busy on Twitter

Rather overtaken by events today but BigChocFrenzy asked for info on what Ivan Rogers had to say in his tour of the NE.

• failure by remain during the referendum campaign to recognise and respond when the arguments moved on from economic to topics such as sovereignty
• believes it is possible to do Brexit without impact on economy but this is not the way it is being approached
• need to recognise the impact on people of long downturn and erosion of living standards
• he recognised the massive task brexit represented but failed to persuade politicians
• no deal is not a permanent or stable state. Clean break brexit is not possible. UK will need to move on from no deal brexit but there's no smooth approach and UK will be in a position of weakness
• UK needed a clear view of what it was aiming for prior to triggering A50. This, together with the EU driving the negotiation timetable, undermined some of the UK's leverage
• completely predictable that the EU would do this- they will always act in the best interests of those remaining in the club
• IR doubted backstop would get through. Mystified why no attempt made to reach out to labour moderates until it had already been defeated- by then there was no motivation for other parties to support it.
• believes TM acted in good faith but promises made to different factions were contradictory.
• Johnson wants to move away from social, economic and regulatory alignment with EU.
• no deal used as negotiating tactic but EU assessment is it will be far worse for UK and struggle to believe a leader would do that to their country.
• political benefits to no deal- unite the right, divide the others amongst various parties
• no deal most likely as we are running out of time even if (he stressed if) both sides want a deal. I'd love to know if this changed in the later sessions!
• all sides know that no deal is stupid (his words)

There were the questions from the audience. Some of the points that came out of that.

• services likely to be impacted

-impact on EU diluted between the 27. Far bigger impact on UK

• Q about cambridge analytica- IR said the approach of targeting voters is not intrinsically wrong, has been done for years. Far bigger questions about funding and where the money comes from. Referenced work he did in Treasury on money laundering.
• question on impact on FE and HE. IR says funding is a big one but believes will is there to support the sector and that this means there will be major taxpayer contributions supporting work with Europe. Has bigger concerns about cross border collaboration and ability to influence design and decision making process (an area where we were a leader). Concerns that approach may be more short term (eg funding done on a year to year basis, rather than multi year projects)

-qu about potential break up of the UK. IR suggests that trade negotiations will highlight tensions between the different constituent parts of the UK. Eg agriculture- need to put something on the table in negotiations but what works for majority of farmers in england is not likely work for the farmers in scotland/Wales. How will decisions be made? What happens where one part of the UK feels badly treated? English driven approach will cause divisions.

• EU more pragmatic than UK politicians think. However they will negotiate only with the executive- no chance of a "junta of parliamentarians" taking over.
• dismissive of Remain being a viable option- people in the EU tired of the "British question", trust has been eroded and there is much more unity over brexit than any other issue. To mich time and energy devoted to Brexit- he used the word poison to describe brexit on the UK's relationships.

-worried applications for settled status are low, urges EU citizens to go down this route

• EU surprised that UK has gone from a big advocate for the single market (and its extension) to wanting to get as far away as possible
• not a fan or revoking without a second referendum. Revocation without purpose worrying and could be abused by other countries in the future.

-queston about problems within the EU. IR acknowledges this but reflects on the difficulties managing multiple political views. Suggests monetary union complicates things. British are tone deaf to other's political motivations at times and need to consider a big driver for others was depoliticisation to prevent death through war. Migration crisis an example of where different political views makes it hard to get collective action. However believes that migration likely to increase and if it can't be solved collectively there is no chance individual countries will be able to.

• Question around whether EU will split. IR believes very unlikely, everyone learned lessons from the last 3 years! Movement for reform- dual speed EU, one with every closer union, others in the outer circle has potential. However will need to address the integration between these groups (decision making etc)
• finishes by saying that David Cameron's renegotiation was something he believes was a good deal and something the UK will miss over the next 10 years.

Not sure about the grass being greener, but it could certainly do with being a bit less potent. We need a poster called "MyCBDSavedMe" for balance, I reckon.

Finally, a word on the powers of the Supreme Court. This will prove a landmark in its history and a major constitutional moment. To see this as merely legally unremarkable is naive.

OOOHHHHHH get you. I bet the judges couldn't care less. Because, it is legally unremarkable.

If the Government want to make it legally remarkable then turn up in Parliament tomorrow.

WTF is Johnson wittering on about in his response.

"Do you honestly feel the verdict has any creditability at all?"

Yes, among those who respect UK Constitution and rule of law
Which is apparently not some Leavers

"This is another remain effort, nothing more or less to stall brexit. "
No
The PM has been stopped from acting unlawfully
Parliament will now return
That's all

Why are you so eager for future PMs to be able to copy BJ's plan

• to see Corbyn, McDonnell even Milne prorogue Parliament to force through the policies of a minority govt ?

Thanks Tanith!

TheElementsSong don’t you mean desperately cutting and pasting from Leave.EU and Brexit Central and Guido?

The law is a bit fucked here

You said it red and that is why we are set to leave, because if the extension is not granted/not requested in time/other legal loophole.

There is also another way Mr Johnson can avoid the extension, but I don't suppose you have considered that yet..

We will be leaving as planned.

believes it is possible to do Brexit without impact on economy but this is not the way it is being approached

The problem is that ship has sailed. Brexit is fucked up, and there's nothing in the Leave handling of it that suggests they deserve a second chance now.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=cWM6vKJicbk

Always springs to mind when I hear BJ.

Do all the bills that failed because of proroguation, like the domestic violence one, come back to life now?

Those bills were suspended. Not failed. Not sure how long they can be suspended for.

Watching Boris melt down on TV in the States. Blimey, my jaw is on the floor.
Wibble wobble and wiffle waffle as he re arranges deckchairs on the Titanic and tries to get a laugh out of the Americans as he talks bollocks.

The law is a bit fucked here

Still no idea about the superior court then ?

*Why are you so eager for future PMs to be able to copy BJ's plan

• to see Corbyn, McDonnell even Milne prorogue Parliament to force through the policies of a minority govt ?*

Even I would be up in arms about that

So will the Tory conference have to happen without MPs now?

Belated PMK
A leave supporter this morning was V V angry that the Judges were interfering in politics
its gonna get messy

So will the Tory conference have to happen without MPs now?

There will have to be a lot of juggling of agendas. I do hope the trains run on time

Presumably pairing will still work, so any votes shouldn't be too onerous ?

The 'Supreme' Court are all pro-EU activist judges.

The UK has become a banana republic because of their decision to make the law rather than uphold the law.

Note that the Supreme Court is not a Royal law court - it does not bear the Royal coat of arms. It is therefore an EU institution - put in place to help to protect and preserve the EU's iron fist of governance of this country.

Thanks for the excellent report, cracklycaramel 💐

Such a stupid mistake getting rid of Ivan Rogers for speaking truth to power

Ever since, the May govt and now the BJ govt have been having their noses rubbed in the facts they refused to hear from him