We’re living in a time when, just as you think British politics can’t get any more dramatic, another exceptional and historic event happens and turns everything on its head.
On Tuesday, that event was the Supreme Court ruling that Boris Johnson’s suspension of parliament was in fact unlawful and that parliament had not actually been shut down.
Cue MPs racing back to Westminster from all four corners of the country, the Labour Party effectively cutting its conference short and Johnson shooting back to London from New York.
So what actually happened when MPs returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday? Here’s a run-down of all the most important bits.
Geoffrey Cox’s General Election Outburst
First up was attorney general Geoffrey Cox, who was up to bat for the government after he was asked to give the House his legal opinion on the advice given the Queen over prorogation.
As you might expect, Cox was given a *grilling* by MPs. But the basic message from the velvet-voiced cabinet minister over prorogation was this – the government has accepted the Supreme Court, but thinks it was wrong.
But he didn’t stop there. Oh no. In a rip-roaring attack on the Commons, Cox accused opposition MPs of being too cowardly to face voters in a general election. (Remember, Johnson has unsuccessfully tried to get a GE twice now.)
“This parliament is a dead parliament,” he bellowed. “It should no longer sit. It has no moral right to sit on these green benches. This parliament is a disgrace.”
He continued: “This parliament should have the courage to face the electorate but it wont, it won’t because so many of them are really all about preventing us leaving the European Union. But the time is coming.
“The time is coming when even these turkeys wont be able to stop Christmas.” (Which begs the question… have turkeys ever been able to stop Christmas?)
The government will be asking the Commons to vote for an election “shortly”, he added later. Whether Cox’s furious outburst will encourage MPs to back the motion is another thing…
Michael Gove’s Yellowhammer Update
Michael Gove, Johnson’s right-hand man in case of a no-deal Brexit, also appeared in front of the Commons on Wednesday to give an update on Operation Yellowhammer, the government’s plan in case the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal.
“Operation Yellowhammer is a reasonable, worst-case scenario,” he told MPs, adding that the government’s special Brexit committee has authorised “more than 300 actions” since August to mitigate the effects of a possible no-deal.
Meanwhile, he used his statement to throw some serious shade at the Labour Party and its new Brexit policy.
At its conference in Brighton this week, Labour voted for the party to go into a general election promising a second referendum on Brexit – but without saying which side it would campaign for.
“Labour’s position on Brexit is as solid as a blancmange in a hurricane and as coherent as an apology from Vicky Pollard,” he said. (Sick burn. As long as you’re well-versed in early noughties British comedy...)
Boris Johnson Calls Corbyn’s Bluff
The PM, presumably rather jet-lagged after cutting his trip to New York short, came out punching when it was his turn to make a statement.
In a ballsy move, Johnson challenged the opposition, saying: “They have until the House rises today to table a vote of no confidence in the government.”
Johnson then dared opposition parties to “finally face the day of reckoning with the voters” in an election.
Johnson was humiliated by Tuesday’s Supreme Court judgment which overturned his advice to the Queen to suspend parliament.
The prime minister said it was “absolutely no disrespect to the judiciary to say I thought the court was wrong” to pronounce on a “political question at a time of great national controversy”.
Claiming that MPs were trying to prevent Brexit entirely, he said: “The people at home know that this Parliament will keep delaying, it will keep sabotaging the negotiations because they don’t want a deal.”
In response, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn repeated his call for the prime minister to quit.
“After yesterday’s ruling the Prime Minister should have done the honourable thing and resigned,” he said.
Later in the marathon session, Johnson provoked gasps in the Commons and was widely condemned after claiming the best way to honour murdered MP Jo Cox would be to “get Brexit done”.
The prime minister’s remark came after several MPs drew upon the memory of Cox when urging him to curb his “violent” and “dangerous” language.
Labour’s Paula Sherriff (Dewsbury) initially criticised Johnson for his repeated use of “surrender act” when describing legislation designed to prevent ministers forcing through a no-deal Brexit on October 31.
She warned against using such language and mentioned Cox before highlighting that many MPs are subject to death threats and abuse.
But Johnson labelled her remarks “humbug”, which prompted an angry response in the chamber – with shouts of “shame” emerging.
Labour’s Tracy Brabin, MP for Batley and Spen, who was elected to the seat after Cox was killed by a man with far-right sympathies during the 2016 EU referendum campaign, also called for the PM to moderate his language.
Johnson replied: “Of course there will be an attempt to try to obfuscate the effect of this Act, but it does – the Capitulation Act, or the Surrender Act or whatever you want to call it – it does, I’m sorry, but it greatly enfeebles, it greatly enfeebles this Government’s ability to negotiate.
“But what I will say is that the best way to honour the memory of Jo Cox and indeed the best to bring this country together would be, I think, to get Brexit done.”
Johnson then went even further, telling Labour’s Peter Kyle: “The best way to ensure that every Parliamentarian is properly safe, and we dial down the current anxiety in this country, is to get Brexit done.”
Brendan Cox, widower of Cox, said he felt “a bit sick at Jo’s name being used in this way” while the Commons heard MPs were reduced to tears and some left the parliamentary estate due to the “distress” caused.
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