Boris Johnson has been described as a threat to the “very nature” of British democracy at a cross-party meeting where MPs agreed to form an alternative parliament in the event of the prime minister shutting down the existing one to make a no-deal Brexit happen.
In a symbolic gathering at Church House in Westminster, where MPs met during the second world war, Labour’s John McDonnell took to the stage alongside the former Conservative MP Anna Soubry as well as the Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, and Caroline Lucas of the Green party.
They signed the Church House declaration, which said shutting down parliament would be “an undemocratic outrage at such a crucial moment for our country, and a historic constitutional crisis”.
The pronouncement added: “Any attempt to prevent parliament [from] sitting, to force through a no-deal Brexit, will be met by strong and widespread democratic resistance.”
160 MPs have already signed it, and the Speaker has made it clear he will not allow a dissolution. Altogether, its like something from the leadup to the English Civil War. Back then, an tyrannical executive sought to rule without input from Parliament, and it did not end well for him. Hopefully Johnson will back off from provoking constitutional outrage and crisis, otherwise it may not end well for him either.