A week of turmoil, but like the Terminator, Boris and Brexit keep going

Boris Johnson’s opponents celebrated wildly the overturning of his prorogation gambit in the UK Supreme Court earlier this week.  Their exultation showed how much they crave a game-changer. But this doesn’t feel like it.

The government’s strategy is still on track.

Boris rides the storm

The inevitable hail of editorial outrage has descended on the head of PM Boris Johnson after yesterday’s Supreme Court decision overturning the Queen’s prorogation of Britain’s Parliament.  He in turn has hastened back from the UN to resume the battle in a reconvened legislature.

The general line is gross-abuse-of-convention-thank-God-for-the-Supreme-Court.  For example, the Financial Times concluded in thunderous tones: “The 11 judges unanimously concluded that Mr Johnson’s five-week suspension of parliament was an unlawful attempt to silence MPs, at the very moment the UK, through Brexit, faces the biggest shake-up in its constitutional status for decades. “

Queen breaks law – but badly advised

In a stunning denoument, Britain’s Supreme Court has ruled that if you want Brexit, you really need to vote for Boris Johnson.

Well, not exactly …  The Court decided – unanimously – that Boris’s advice to the Queen to prorogue Parliament for five weeks was unlawful – and it follows that the Queen’s decision was null and of no effect – in effect Parliament was not prorogued at all.

Britain’s Supreme Court on trial?

Britain’s highest court is hearing arguments this week over the legality of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s prorogation of Parliament earlier this month.  Its decision is unlikely to shift entrenched views – and may not make much difference to the path or outcome of Brexit.

But a piece in The Times by political commentator Daniel Finkelstein suggests that it may be of the greatest importance for the Supreme Court itself.  In his view, the hearings “may mark the moment Britain stopped being a political democracy restrained by law and became instead a legal democracy tempered by politics”.