Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Agelastus]

The Queen has given her consent. 

I don't see what else she could do.

She has just agreed to send Parliament home for FIVE WEEKS during quite possibly the most critical period of British history since the Suez Crisis, or even WW2.

She either agrees with the goal of this action, namely to remove Parliament as the sovereign entity to make the critical decisions that need to be made, or she is an uninterested figurehead with far less power than any heads of states I can think of.

Unless there's been an announcement I've missed they were going home for three weeks anyway; the last half of September into October is conference season. At the front end that equates to about a week of prorogation which isn't too unusual before a Queen's speech.

This does not, of course, make it right. Boris should not be doing it given the current circumstances.

Moreover, even if you accept precedent for and the logic of prorogation until the Queen's Speech (since the new prime-minister's program will differ to the old), if the Queen's Speech has to take place after conference season the prorogation should be only until the first possible date for the speech - which is several days before October 14th (I make it to be well over a week before that date personally.)

[Tamas]

I read somewhere that Britain has not yet passed the necessary primary legislation to actually have a fully functional regulatory regime after exiting the European Union. Proroguing parliament has the side effect of not being able to pass this legislation in time. This means Britain will have a significant legal void when it left. That will increase the disruption from a no-deal Brexit.

That's because the plan isn't to exit without a deal, but to force the EU to offer a great deal in the next two months.

Tweet from a Tory MP:

Unwelcome news for some but on doorsteps this morning the great British public are a lot more calm and sensible than most in Westminster village. PM has a window now to get a deal. I am going to cut him some slack. I also want new Queens Speech full of good 1 nation ambition

They truly are completely ignorant to how the world outside this island works.

[Josquius]

Unless there's been an announcement I've missed they were going home for three weeks anyway; the last half of September into October is conference season. At the front end that equates to about a week of prorogation which isn't too unusual before a Queen's speech.

Cancelling conference season has been very heavily discussed. At the least it looked set to be far more muted than usual

[HVC]

I have to imagine they're not really this stupid and it's for public consumption and they just don't care about the fallout.

[Saladin]

I have to imagine they're not really this stupid and it's for public consumption and they just don't care about the fallout.

Exactly.

[Josquius]

It won't accomplish anything in itself, but hey, at least that no to no deal one made the news, it is growing fast:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/269157?fbclid=IwAR0HB_igNAotaIEc7wGDLqkMibJHGxB7wAXNK5sW8i5jzmkO-QMjdtYmH7Q

[Tamas]

The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has been caught on mic admitting the uncertainty of what happens next in the Brexit process and conceding the weakness of the government grip on power.

Speaking to his French counterpart at a defence summit in Helsinki, Wallace could be heard explaining the decision to prorogue parliament.

He said: "Parliament has been very good at saying what it doesn't want. It has been awful at saying what it wants. That's the reality. So eventually any leader has to, you know, try."

Shrugging and laughing he added: "I don't know what the outcome will be, you know politics."

He added this about the government's weakness:

"Our system is a winner-takes-all system. If you win a parliamentary majority you control everything, you control the timetable. There's no written separation. So it's, you pretty much are in command of the whole thing. And we've suddenly found ourselves with no majority and a coalition and that's not easy for our system."

[viper37]

Republicanism has suddenly gained a major positive argument.

You respect your queen! You're worse than a Scott

I do not call myself subject to much at all.

[Saladin]

Interesting opinion piece:

"Why comparisons between Boris Johnson and Charles I aren't just lazy rhetoric"

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/29/boris-johnson-charles-i-king

Charles's problem with parliaments was that he abhorred any notion of political oversight, even from the wealthy landowners that dominated 17th-century parliaments, and yet he needed their approval to raise taxes for a cash-strapped regime locked in military conflict with Spain and France. This conflict had been decades in the making, and was detaching the court government from even its natural supporters among the gentry.

And this is where deeper and more meaningful parallels begin. The government of Boris Johnson is indeed a court clique, unsecured from its natural moorings in the wider political establishment.

Long before Johnson uttered his government's expletive-laden two-word manifesto, "Fuck business", it was clear that Brexit and big business were incompatible. Some 99 firms out of the FTSE 100 wanted to remain in the EU while the Tory party leadership, and hence the government, had been captured by a Brexit-obsessed minority of a minority.

[Tamas]

On ITV every morning they invite two (usually tabloid) journalists to discuss events, one from the right and one from the left.

This morning, the "conservative" (I can't see how anyone supporting current government actions can be called a conservative) journo declared that NOW the EU has no choice but to offer a better deal. 

And so one of the reporters asked the left-leaning journo what would she say if Johnson's actions did prompt the EU to offer a better deal.
Poor lady wanted to avoid saying "that's impossible", although I don't know why.

This collective delusion is getting really tiresome and scary.

[celedhring]

It looks like the entire Johnson's negotiating strategy is based upon the Blazing Saddles scene where the black sheriff threatens to shot himself if he's not let go.

[Tamas]

It looks like the entire Johnson's negotiating strategy is based upon the Blazing Saddles scene where the black sheriff threatens to shot himself if he's not let go.

Yes

[Josquius]

Complete with racist language.

[Syt]

[Duque de Bragança]

Republicanism has suddenly gained a major positive argument.

You respect your queen! You're worse than a Scott

Nope, Scots are Brits, unlike Viper who speaks a Latin language, of the non hispanic kind.