Yahoo News Labour MP says the monarchy could be abolished after Queen approves PM's plan to suspend Parliament
A Labour MP has said the monarchy could be abolished after the Queen approved Boris Johnson’s request to prorogue Parliament.
Kate Osamor, the MP for Edmonton, spoke out after the Prime Minister said he will temporarily close down the Commons from the second week of September until October 14, when there will be a Queen's Speech to open a new session of Parliament.
The Queen approved the order on Wednesday afternoon to prorogue Parliament no earlier than September 9 and no later than September 12, until October 14.
It would have been an extreme break with convention if the Queen, who does not interfere in politics, had rejected the request from the PM.
Ms Osamor, who resigned from the shadow cabinet after she threatened a journalist questioning her on her son’s court case, tweeted that the “Queen did not save us” following her approval of Mr Johnson’s request.
She then wrote: “The Queen should look at what happened to her cousin Tino ex King of Greece when you enable a right wing coup! Monarchy abolished!”
The. Queen. Did. Not. Save. Us.
— Kate Osamor || Labour & Co-op MP for Edmonton (@KateOsamor) August 28, 2019
The Queen should look at what happened to her cousin Tino ex King of Greece when you enable a right wing coup!
Monarchy abolished!— Kate Osamor || Labour & Co-op MP for Edmonton (@KateOsamor) August 28, 2019
Queen dragged into Brexit debate
The Queen has been dragged into Westminster's bitter Brexit battle with the prorogue request, with opposition leaders writing to her in protest.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he "protested in the strongest possible terms on behalf of my party" in a letter to the Queen and called for a meeting alongside other opposition members of the Privy Council.
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MPs hit out at the position Mr Johnson had put the Queen in.
Senior Labour MP Yvette Cooper said he was "trying to use the Queen to concentrate power in his own hands" while fellow ex-cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw said the move would "drag the monarch into an unprecedented constitutional crisis”.
‘Treacherous situations’
The Queen may face more "treacherous situations" in the weeks ahead after being drawn into the "contentious and divisive" Brexit issue, an expert has said.
Mike Gordon, professor of constitutional law at the University of Liverpool, said if MPs launch a successful no-confidence vote in Boris Johnson, to challenge his proroguing of parliament, the monarch could be in a difficult position if the Tory leader refuses to resign.
While, if the opposition parties manage to get legislation through parliament to stop a no-deal Brexit, the government could advise the Queen not to give it royal assent and so become law, against accepted convention.
Professor Gordon said about the decision to prorogue Parliament: "I think this definitely puts the Queen in a potentially tricky position because it's drawing her into the most contentious and divisive political debate in the UK over the last few years.
"I think it's effectively a fait accompli in that the Queen is a neutral, a formal, constitutional actor who stands above and apart from politics and she doesn't really exercise, for the most part, any discretion of her own.
"She acts on the advice of her ministers and in particular her Prime Minister and so when the Prime Minister, through the Privy Council, requests parliament be prorogued, then realistically it's impossible to imagine the Queen refusing to grant that.”
Could the Queen sack the PM?
Commenting on the possibility of the Prime Minister being ousted by MPs, the academic added: "If it is the vote of no confidence route, what happens if Boris Johnson loses the vote of no confidence but refuses to resign?”
The academic questioned how the opposition parties would persuade the Queen there is a viable administration waiting in the wings.
He said: "How, if at all, could they persuade her to sack Boris Johnson and give the alternative government a chance, if he's refusing to resign?
"So there's potentially more treacherous things down the road for the Queen."
