Boris Johnson 'deceived Queen and should resign'
If Boris Johnson is found to have deceived the Queen he should quit, a former Tory MP has said.
The Prime Minister will have no choice but to resign if a court upholds a decision he misled the royal when giving her reasons why Parliament should be prorogued, according to ex-Conservative Attorney General Dominic Grieve.
The former Tory MP, who was sacked by the PM when he went against him on a Brexit vote, was joined by Labour’s David Lammy in demanding he leaves should he lose an appeal over a decision made by three senior Scottish judges on Wednesday.
The judges at the Court of Session in Edinburgh concluded the prorogation was “improper” and “unlawful”and had been done with “the purpose of stymying Parliament” and therefore was “null and of no effect”.
Mr Grieve told BBC News: “It is absolutely central to our constitution that the relationship between the Prime Minister and the Queen is one of the utmost confidentiality and the utmost good faith.
“If it were to be the case that the Government had misled the Queen about the reasons for suspending Parliament and the motives for it – that would be a very serious matter indeed.
“Indeed in my view, it would then be the moment for Mr Johnson to resign – and very swiftly.”
Mr Lammy wants both Mr Johnson and his advisor Dominic Cummings to leave.
No one is above the law. @BorisJohnson and Dominic Cummings have deceived the Queen, disgraced the office of Prime Minister, and debased Britain's international standing as a champion of democracy.
If upheld by the Supreme Court on Tuesday, both should be forced to resign. https://t.co/1ADyzv9vAS— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) September 11, 2019
Legal expert David Allen Green said the court had effectively ruled the PM had deceived the Queen.
He added in an article for the Financial Times: “In effect, though not in express terms, the Scottish court has held that Mr Johnson lied to the Queen.
“Not only was the advice false, but it was known by the prime minister to be false. Mr Johnson acted in bad faith.”
If he did lie to the Queen then half of leave voters would have no problem with it, according to a YouGov poll.
In the poll 52% of people who voted to leave the European Union wanted the Prime Minister to break the law for Brexit.
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The Government said it was “disappointed” by the decision by the Scottish judges and would be appealing to the UK’s Supreme Court.
The ruling comes a day after the prorogation took place in the early hours of Tuesday, with Parliament now suspended for five weeks.
The group of parliamentarians who petitioned the Court of Session said their understanding is Parliament can now reassemble if it so wishes, with SNP MP Joanna Cherry among those calling for it to be recalled.
She said: “The majority of MPs want to be in the House scrutinising and debating Brexit.
“Mr Johnson doesn’t have a majority, the Speaker is very concerned about the circumstances of the prorogation, his concerns have been vindicated by this ruling and therefore Parliament should return and we should be able to get on with our jobs representing our constituents.”