From today's Sunday Times
Boris Johnson ‘to break law for Brexit’ as he snatches 14‑point lead over Corbyn
Tim Shipman and Caroline Wheeler
September 8 2019, 12:01am, The Sunday Times
Johnson’s war with parliament could cause legal chaos that would be difficult to unpick before October 31
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Boris Johnson plans to “sabotage” efforts by MPs to block Brexit, and force an explosive showdown at the Supreme Court that could see him risk a jail sentence to deliver on his pledge to leave the EU by October 31.
In a dramatic escalation of the prime minister’s war with parliament,
Johnson will ignore legislation passed last week demanding that he seek an extension from Brussels to Brexit negotiations past the Halloween deadline — forcing MPs to take him to court.
Johnson will go to the EU summit on October 17 and seek a deal with Brussels — but if one is not agreed he will refuse to demand the extension to article 50 which the rebel legislation demands.
A senior No 10 source told The Sunday Times: “If there isn’t a deal by the 18th we will sabotage the extension.” Another source said Johnson’s team was prepared to “take a chainsaw to anything” standing in its way.
No 10 believes that its approach will guarantee an emergency judicial review by the Supreme Court in the week of October 21, with judges deciding the fate of Brexit and the government.
Johnson’s approach suggests Britain is on course for the worst constitutional smash-up since parliamentary government was properly established in 1688.
After a week of turmoil, The Sunday Times can reveal that Whitehall mandarins have also
begun work on a plan B, preparing for the prime minister to announce his resignation. Civil servants are drawing up a blueprint for how the announcement would be made and how Jeremy Corbyn — or a politician enjoying cross-party support — would then be invited to form a government. “It’s a tactical manoeuvre and shows he is prepared to lose the battle to win the war,” a source said.
Johnson today receives a boost from a
YouGov poll for The Sunday Times which puts the Tories on 35%, 14 points ahead of Labour, with the Liberal Democrats on 19% and the Brexit party on 12%.
Crucially, the survey found support for his strategy of pitching the people against parliament; 35% of voters say they want “important issues” to be decided by the public in referendums, compared to 33% who are content for decisions to be made by MPs.
In an interview with this newspaper, Nigel Farage announces that the Brexit Party will not stand candidates against committed Brexiteers and offers a full-blown “non-aggression pact” with the Tories which he says could give them a collective majority of 100.
Some Tories believe details of Johnson’s scorched earth policy might encourage MPs to vote for an election tomorrow when the matter is debated again in parliament. If that happens, Johnson and his top aide, Dominic Cummings, will happily fight an election on a “people v parliament” platform.
Under Cummings’s plan to force a Supreme Court battle, No 10 expects Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, to demand that judges rule that the cabinet secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill, writes to the EU to ask for the extension if Johnson refuses to do so.
Cummings has told colleagues that unless remainers can seize control of parliament again and pass a law revoking article 50 between October 21 and 31, they will have to ask the Supreme Court for a court order to try to force Johnson’s hand. No 10 believes it will be hard for the Supreme Court to act fast enough in the 10-day window.
If MPs do revoke article 50, sources say Johnson would also refuse to co-operate in the revocation process, causing further legal chaos which would be difficult to unpick before October 31.
Cummings’s calculation is that if Corbyn co-operates with MPs to revoke article 50, the Tories would destroy the Labour Party in the election. “We will drive them into the sea,” he told staff last week.
But last night Johnson was warned he faces jail. Lord MacDonald, the former director of public prosecutions, said he could be prosecuted for contempt of court. “If you are found guilty of defying a court order then you are jailed,” he said.
Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake warned that if Johnson defied the law, “a very significant number” of MPs would resign the whip, “including me”.
But Cummings has told officials in No 10: “The more hysterical remainers become with a campaign to arrest the PM unless he surrenders, the stronger our position with the country will get. Most MPs do not understand how much the country hates parliament and wants someone to sort out this mess.”
If MPs pass a vote of no confidence in Johnson’s government for defying the law, aides say he will refuse to resign and will stay in power until after October 31 — even if the Commons speaker, John Bercow, organises a vote in parliament which shows an alternative interim prime minister such as Ken Clarke or Starmer could command a majority in the House.
Johnson will also refuse to appoint an EU commissioner in an effort to get the other member states to kick the UK out, since each country has to send someone to Brussels.
A Whitehall source said: “They think this parliament has no moral force; they will take a chainsaw to anything in order to leave and they think they will win the election then sort out the mess afterwards.”
www.theguardian.com
