These Brexit guys are more bananas than Trump and McConnell. The more rational Brits do not need an election or impeachment to restore sanity. They and the monarchy can replace Boris quickly if they have the guts.
7
@arp True. But that’s a very big “if”.
John Bercow is the Sam Ervin of Brexit, a folk hero and only slightly more colorful as it extends to his satorial choice of ties.
13
Let us all hope this populist wave that has swept the Western world is finally crashing. Conte in Italy wrestling power from those Five Star racist goons, Corbyn and UK Parliament stripping this wannabe dictator Johnson of his thirst to destroy Britain and then 2020: if America can do anything right it will be to get Trump and his Nazi minions out of power. It is time western democracies return to reason and proper government and put an end to his global circus of delusional and lies.
37
Boris Johnson did not even have the courage to appear in Parliament yesterday,he is a coward who gets others to do his dirty work.
Only 92,000 mainly old men of substantial means elected Boris Johnson as leader of the Tories, he has no legitimacy to pursue his unlawful policies. Hopefully he will end up in prison for contempt, if he refuses to follow the law passed yesterday which ties him into applying for an extension to Article 50 if he cannot come up with a deal by the 19th October. No one is above the law.
He has no grasp of how devastating a no deal Brexit will be to 90% of the UK population.
The UK population need to learn quickly from Hong Kong and get out and protest against this authoritarian, dictator.
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@Koret you don't seem to even understand how simple elements of the UK's constitution actually work, so perhaps it's not surprising that you seem to have no contact with the reality of your (apparent) countrymen-and-women's political views either.
The Hamas/Hezbollah-supporting, Maduro-stooge, Castro-apologist, IRA-bombing-glorifying, anti-semitic, dithering Labour leaders and the Marxist organisers of Momentum can not conceivably ever represent anything but a tiny marginalised minority in the UK who wish to overturn democracy.
5
Okay, what is the translation of the Norman French phrase??!! Most entertaining element of this whole catastrophe???
4
@Kathy This show seems to have been staged by the Monte Python people. Quite entertaining!
5
What a colossal mess. Boris may not be able to crash out with no deal, but the EU's patience with all this may be exhausted and they'll just say "Bye-bye and good luck!"
4
Lost in this reportage about Parliamentary politicking is any mention of substance. Has the delay, dither, bluster and blather accomplished anything?
I think not. My prediction is that the European Union will negotiate some cosmetic changes to Theresa May's deal which Boris Johnson will agree to. No extension to the October 31 Brexit date will be offered.
That will mean on October 17 (or thereabouts) Parliament will be faced with a deal that it has thrice turned down or a no-deal Brexit. If so, that should be an interesting vote.
People seem to think that Boris Johnson is blundering his way to failure. Is he, really? Or has he finally got Brexit in the bag.
As Donald Trump likes to say, "We'll see what happens."
7
The spectacle of Parliament being hijacked by Cummings via his puppet master Cummings is stunning. What is equally surprising is the Conservative members who displayed enough spine to thwart, for the time being, Johnson's reckless game of chicken with the EU.
While Cummings is indifferent to the economic chaos resulting from a no deal Brexit and Johnson is unaware of his hopeless bargaining position, the country is increasingly aware of the emptiness of the suit that occupies number 10.
5
This is only the beginning of the breakdown that will spread throughout the United Kingdom if a no deal Brexit is achieved in these circumstances: an unelected Prime Minister leading a minority government, responding to a referendum that achieved only a slim majority after a dishonest and misleading campaign. Common sense, common decency suggest that the democratic solution is a second referendum.
25
What a magnificent spectacle! Quite entertaining and edifying. Like it or not, it appears that what Johnson did in proroguing Parliament (technically, asking the Queen to do so) was legal, unlike so much of what President Trump does or talks of doing. Hardball politics, but within the rules (which perhaps should be changed for the future). Too much hand wringing--I'm sure the Mother of Parliaments will come through just fine. At least they still have actual debates, and the government has to answer questions, unlike our Congress, which has devolved into merely a stage to read speeches that no one listens to into the record and hold votes the results of which are preordained, and unlike our Executive who stonewalls ans straight out lies.
12
Yes, it does not sound and look nice but rest assured that those incompetent impotents would have produced nothing on the matter at hand if they were sitting every single day every single hour in the Parliament. How many more illustrations of their infertility one needs to witness?
And besides, they were let go completely legally, albeit dishonestly, but such are times ...
4
New York City was a hotbed of Loyalist sentiment during the early days of the American revolution with a mutual disdain for George Washington so nothing has changed
2
Can you imagine what would happen, given the pomp and ceremony, if that same scenario played out in congress. After 8 or 10 run throughs, they’d still be there trying to get it right...”now, what”?
1
I refuse to read another Brexit story until Britain is finally out of its coma, otherwise bedside visits seem pointless.
1
Disgraceful. Time to remove the UN Security Council Seat from Britain and give it to another country. The only reason Britain has it is because of its colonial history.
2
@Venti The only reason! That's like saying America should have its UN Security Council seat removed because of its 'Manifest Destiny'; also known as genocidal colonialism.
Let's not get too chauvinist or anti-British, when it is English colonialism that made us!
The spectacle we have all seen in the UK House of Commons is democracy in action; it's not always neat and tidy, but raw and disruptive at times.
What country deserves a seat on the UN security council in place of Britain?
17
Appalling and disgraceful.
6
You wish that Congress could stand up to Trump the way MPs stood up to Boris.
12
What happened over 400 years ago when King Charles in England tried to silence Parliament repeated itself today.Boris Johnson’s Proroguing parliament has created extreme chaos in British Parliament.For centuries,Parliament followed conventions, which were upended today.
We see unruly Parliaments all over the world.But it never happened in Britain.Last night was a jarring reminder that Britain has caught up with other parliaments.
Looking back,Proroguing Parliament might have been tthe biggest mistake of Boris Johnson.Had Boris allowed routine to be followed,he might have had his way.
Proroguing Parliament created a chance for the Opposition.Instead of fighting Brexext,Opposition MPs were fighting the ruin of Parliament,which was far easier&productive.
The Opposition delayed early elections&also passed a law that Johnson could not sign a No-Deal Brexit.All this was possible because Johnson resorted to”Proroguing”. The expulsion of 21 MPs by Boris made a majority needed for Parliament to stop Boris Johnson.
A single mistake in Parliament created a stalemate.Yet,Boris says he will still get a Brexit by Oct.31,2019.It now depends if EU helps Boris.Or Suo Moto extend time for a deal&permit delay. EU may not want Boris to win as it would weaken them&create future problems.EU does not want to be kicked around in a British election.So EU may quietly help the Opposition,All because Boris’s advisers felt”Constitutional Hardball”would do the trick.It did the trick,but against Boris!
26
Is the "Mother of all Parliaments" taking the United Kingdom into "failed state" status?
10
No, actually. It shows that a flexible Constitution works.
6
@G Rayns Has worked to achieve what result?
3
Yes, it all sounds unparliamentary but that seems to be norm today. What are Trump's & Trudeau's "parliament" up to & how are they so much more respectful & filled with at least some integrity?
1
I beg to differ. Trump's "Parliament" is anything but respectful, and the word "integrity" cannot properly be used in the same sentence with the word "Trump".
13
@Gene Bush I am misunderstood. Sorry. I was trying to say that we in Canada & USA can not disparage what's happening in England because our governments are made of people of self interest & a lack of honesty with egomaniacal leaders that are dividing our countries as they never have been in history. Basically, why did it come to this in these 3 countries??
3
Only a few days ago the NYT Editorial Board confidently assured readers that what it now describes as pandemonium in the HofC is not a symptom of parliamentary dysfunction but of public polarization. I might have thought a functional legislature would be one that could negotiate controversies, but apparently it's become a forum for demagoguery and ignorant mass opinion. If that's your idea of democracy, count me out.
5
What an odd article. It reads like reporting and is presented as such but is clearly opinion. Speaker John Bercow is lionized and his twice taking away from government the right to conduct business in Parliament is ignored.
Shutting down Parliament for a few sitting days is clearly constitutional, as two courts have already held. John Bercow's actions as speaker were not justiciable but were clearly not supported by precedent.
What will happen with Brexit remains to be seen, but Parliament has shamefully shown itself capable only of dither and delay, and not deliberative action.
9
@John Smithson - thank you for an admirably clear and concise summary of the position.
The lack of deliberative action by the lower house for over three years now clearly cries out for a General Election that would enable the people to choose new representatives.
Whatever your view on Brexit, whether committed Tory or Labour or supporter of none of the above, a new Commons and a new mandate is now the obvious minimum requirement. The FTPA was the worst drafted legislation ever enacted by the Mother of Parliaments.
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@John Smithson
There are plenty of articles in the NYT that read like reporting and are presented as such but are clearly opinion. (But they'll get credit from me for printing this comment, if they do.)
3
"Shutting down Parliament for a few sitting days is clearly constitutional, as two courts have already held." Clearly? Yet to go to Supreme Court. And the government lied, claiming that it had not been decided when it already had been.
3
One hopes that this unfortunate spectacle, which effectively shuts down what many had considered to be one of the world's stalwart democracies, will once and for all convince anyone in doubt of the dangers wrought by conservative ideology.
53
jv727, Parliament has passed a law requiring Boris Johnson to ask for another extension. What else, were it sitting for a few more days, would you expect it to do?
3
@jv727 - perhaps it's confusing, but Parliament has not been "shut down" it has been prorogued, with the loss of only 4 or perhaps 5 days of debate time. The antics of the Speaker and his Remainer friends aiming to thwart BREXIT after three years of obstruction and delay strongly suggests the need for the new Parliament that would be caused by a General Election. However, UK democracy has not been "shut down" as you suggest and to repeat this simply falls in to the false narrative the Opposition now tries to create in order to frustrate the will of the people unusually expressed in the form of the 2016 referendum.
This is not a matter of conservative, or even socialist ideology, but it is certainly not aided by superficial misunderstanding of the workings of the expression of UK sovereignty. Prorogation is a sign of the UK constitution, ancient perhaps, but not moribund, actually working, not of democracy stifled.
As with so many things in British life "La reine le veult" is not quite what it seems. This ancient expression (used at Prorogation but more frequently at the point that legislation receives Royal Assent) is not a symbol of monarchical power, but a necessary sign that the will of the people is ultimately exercised through the Crown's delegation of powers to Parliament, a delegation that has been singularly failed by the members of this lower house. That failure is why a General Election to cause its replacement is so obviously required.
5
@longsummer
That's an articulate and informative depiction of the British Constitution, but what it elides over (as does every commentary, because the answer has been lost in the mists of time) is where does fundamental sovereignty lie in the United Kingdom? We all know that on a day-to-day basis it lies with the Crown in Parliament, but who has the ultimate sovereign power to resolve a dispute between these two entities?
During the Civil War, force answered that question in Parliament's favor. But the Restoration and Glorious Revolution muddied the waters somewhat. My own suspicion is that sovereignty derives from the monarch, and therefore it is the executive that has the upper hand in the UK. (But there is much old Anglo-Saxon myth that suggests a popular sovereignty might be possible as well.)
In any event, it impresses me that MPs are so well-versed in their own history that they recognize the parallels with the arrest of the 5 members in 1642. (Though the episode is depicted on a mural in the Palace of Westminster, to remind them of their priviliges.)
4
I have no idea how this will all end. It must, however, be said that our friends across the pond are much better at insult and political spectacle than Trump could ever hope to be! This is the sort of event that famous paintings used to depict. Your photo yesterday of John Bercow yelling “order!” while surrounded by his imploring colleagues was worthy of the great Masters.
35
The fact that the British system has been able to curtail a rogue leader is further proof that we LOST the War of Independence. We cut ties with Britain and instead of Queen Elizabeth II as our Head of State, we have Donald Trump - and a failed system that permits him to run roughshod over all that decent people hold dear regarding justice and liberty while in Britain they have de-fanged their monster.
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@ManhattanWilliam
Yes- the UK is still in complete disarray- but it is functional disarray- not the slippery path to authoritarianism which is taking place here, in every agency and dept of our government. Here it is as if George Orwell is writing the press releases from our national weather service, and public land bureaus. That the powers dismantling American democracy, the Mercers and the Murdochs, chose "Tea Party" as the banner of their "populist" movement is further proof that the "War of Independence" may have been called too soon.
15
@ManhattanWilliam
Sometimes you get outstanding Presidents. Sometimes you don't.
Sometimes we get outstanding Monarchs such as Queen Elizabeth II. Sometimes we don't.
3
This is all awful. But it needs to be said: I will miss John Bercow. He should pursue a second career as a football commentator.
19
The word is grossly misused these days, but there are at least 22 MP's who can be called heroes. They all used to have the Tory whip. One gave it up years ago when he became speaker, 21 had it taken away last week when they voted wrong.
37
If Boris really does ignore a law passed by Parliament and is found in contempt, he may well be bound for a time behind bars. One can only hope its the Tower of London, though the public stocks would be much more fun. Its not being dead in the ditch (be careful what you wish for Boris, especially given the parallels with Charles 1st), but pummeling the shaggy head with rotten fruit would be most satisfying. Though, if the customs union with Europe is gone by then, there might not be much of it around.
37
For several years, I thought parliamentary systems were more efficient and democratic, because the PM is drawn from the majority party. Recent events have changed my mind. We have a date certain on which we can throw our bums out.
1
@Lawyermom The interval between British general election is by statute five years. It can be called earlier, but the clock is re-set to five years!
5
@Adam It can only be called earlier if 2/3 of parliament votes for it.
Which is why Boris is currently in charge of a minority government and losing all his votes.
3
It appears that England lawmakers have in common with their US counterparts is government for the rich, and the rest will be fed to them.
9
Not 'English' -- the parliament serves four countries.
1
By proroguing Parliament Boris just might get his way.
In the little time remaining he will negotiate half-heartedly, if at all, for a better deal with the E.U.. He might, or might not, request a three month delay for Brexit. Even if he does, the E.U. might not grant the request.
One of the greatest farces of our time: An unelected PM, with a minority government, striving to guarantee the worst possible outcome of an unnecessary and non-bindng referendum. An outcome that Parliament has voted down. And he is on the verge of achieving his goal.
79
You are unfair in stating the PM is unelected. He has been elected in the same way as every PM coming in mid term due to a resignation or death has been elected. And he has sought an election which has not been acceded to by the opposition. It does democracy no good in any country to question the right to be in power of a figure who has taken that power through the electoral system in being. Challenge the policies, challenge the system, but do not deny legitimacy.
11
@Ed I am hoping that Boris will be in the Tower for Contempt of Court (a criminal conviction prevents an MP sitting in parliament) if he refuses Parliaments Act to ask the EU for a deal. I know life long Conservatives who now refuse to vote at all! To quote Lawrence of Arabia (changing those he was addressing to us residents of the UK - as it currently is!) 'You are a little people, a silly people'. Bring on a Referendum - it's the only way forward to clarify the result now that people can see the truth of leaving our friends in Europe. Sorry US of A but we don't want to deal with another Boris once we've got shot of ours.
6
He was elected by less than 0.5 percent of the electorate (ie, the Tory party), not by the wider electorate. He has no mandate at all (ie neither in manifesto or in referendum) to pursue a no deal Brexit.
7
I don’t have much sympathy for those trying to stop parliament being prorogued. Such ceremonies and conventions are what keep debate civilised. But this is a sideshow - the real issue is that even if they kept parliament going they have no ideas other than the negative: they do not want to leave without a deal and have now legislated for that, but they also don’t want the deal which is offered. Nor do they want to fight an election on a platform of ‘reverse the Brexit referendum decision’. For all Boris’ bluff and bluster, it is actually the opposition making more empty noise.
10
Dubliner, well said. That's exactly right. Parliament is split by different views so that none can get a majority.
My prediction is that the European Union will negotiate some cosmetic changes to Theresa May's deal which Boris Johnson will agree to. No extension will be offered.
That will mean on October 17 (or thereabouts) Parliament will be faced with a deal that it has thrice turned down or a no-deal Brexit. If so, should be an interesting vote.
7
@Dubliner - agreed.
They just had a vacation recess. Now they have another several week recess.
It appears that the only issue that Parliament has to deal with is Brexit. I'm sure their constituents will be glad to know there are no other issues challenging their country.
30
@Steve...yes and like our Congress... do not seem to have any other issues challenging them except the tweets of the president, and, of course, his weather forecast!
And, it appears that the GOP is glad to know there are no other issues challenging the country as well.
24
@Cityrose869
Except the House has passed several important pieces of legislation dealing with things such as gun control and climate change. It's just Moscow Mitch who refuses to let the Senate act on any of them.
And the House certainly didn't go into another recess once it had returned.
50
@Steve
Are you actually blaming Parliament for being suspended? They had no say in the matter, and their outrage over being prorogued was a large part of why Boris Johnson lost his majority.
Also, in the British Parliamentary system, it is the government which proposes bills. If there were other issues that they ought to have considered, it was still not their place to actually do so.
11