A legal dispute over the suspension of Parliament by the government this week has raised the prospect that Prime Minister Boris Johnson may have lied to the Queen, a claim which he strongly denies.
Parliament was suspended — Prorogued in Westminster parlance — in the early hours of Tuesday by Royal proclamation, part of the historic series of constitutional ceremonies that permeate British political life. This is done on the advice received by the monarch from her government — but anti-Brexit campaigners angry that Parliament has been suspended at a time where they would with to be working against Britain’s withdrawal in the chamber.
Speaking after a Scottish court ruling raised the prospect that he may have lied to the Queen — a claim quickly leapt upon by Remainers and the British media — Mr Johnson responded Thursday morning to say “absolutely not true” to the claims, reports The Times.
Remarking that he was waiting for the Supreme Court in London to make a final ruling on the suspension and the need for a Prorogation to trigger a Quen’s speech, Mr Johnson continued in the interview: “The high court in England plainly agrees with us but the supreme court will have to decide. We need a Queen’s speech, we need to get on and do all sorts of things at a national level.”
Smoothing ruffled feathers over the government’s position on the judiciary, which is independent from the legislature and executive and had faced some criticism earlier in the week fo ra politically motivated ruling after the Scottish court found against Boris Johnson while the English found in his favour, the Prime Minister continued: “The British judiciary, the United Kingdom judiciary, is one of the great glories of our constitution — they are independent. Believe me, around the world people look at our judges with awe and admiration, so I’m not going to quarrel or criticise the judges.
“Clearly there are two different legal views — the High Court in England had a very different opinion and the Supreme Court will have to adjudicate in the course of the next few days, and I think it’s proper for politicians to let them get on and do that.”
The Prime Minister also spoke about the future of Brexit, saying his team remained engaged in negotiating a deal for Britain’s departure, saying that: “I think we can see the rough area of a landing space, of how you can do it – it will be tough, it will be hard, but I think we can get there.”