BREXIT Party is the only reason why Boris becomes British Prime Minister//CRIMSON TAZVINZWA///
There is only one question in British politics at the moment. Can a no-deal Brexit be stopped? Yes it can, and so Boris Johnson is set to become prime minister on a false prospectus.
According to YouGov, 74 per cent of Conservative Party members intend to elect him as leader – on a pledge to leave the EU, deal or no deal, on 31 October. That is a promise he cannot guarantee to deliver.
This has been pointed out repeatedly, and the Tory leadership campaign has continued serenely on – untroubled by reality, buoyed by the power of simple assertion. Johnson says he’ll do it, “do or die”, and the party members clap and cheer, as if to drown out the voices of doubt in their heads.
Jeremy Hunt, instead of telling the truth, has appeased the delusion by toughening up his own language, saying that, if a Brexit deal is not in prospect at the end of September, he would take us out without a deal too. His reward for such cowardice will be a drubbing without honour.
Johnson’s blithe assertion that the world is as he wants it to be has confused people. Surely it would be hard to stop a determined prime minister from taking Britain out of the EU without a deal? So it is worth setting out, again, how parliament can prevent such an outcome.
Philip Hammond, the chancellor, discussed plans this week with fellow opponents of a no-deal Brexit in his office in the House of Commons. I have no inside intelligence of what was said, but it was something like the following.
The first line of defence is that parliament can pass laws against the wishes of a prime minister. This happened in April when, even though Theresa May had said she would ask for an extension to the Brexit timetable, the Cooper-Letwin act was passed to make absolutely sure that she did so.
The question is how to get such legislation started if the government provides no legislation or motion of its own that could be amended, and if it refuses to allow an opposition day before the end of October.
The answer to that is an application for an emergency debate, under standing order 24. It would be unprecedented for the speaker to allow such a debate to be used to propose, and vote on, a motion to take control of the parliamentary timetable, but anyone who thinks John Bercow wouldn’t do it hasn’t been paying attention.