The coup: not Johnson’s fault?

Submitted by AWL on 5 September, 2019 - 10:45 Author: Jim Denham
johnson mogg

Johnson’s coup is all the fault of the anti-Brexit MPs, according to the Morning Star’s editorial on 29 August:

“It comes in circumstances that have been created by anti-Brexit MPs and the House of Commons. They have had three years to agree a way to honour the people’s vote to leave the EU. Moreover, the vast majority of those MPs were elected on pledges to do just that.

“Instead, they have tried every parliamentary trick in the book – in this case Erskine May’s Parliamentary Practice – to block and delay any kind of exit from the EU. Moreover, the vast majority of those MP’s were elected on pledges to do just that. Their wealthy supporters outside parliament have tried using the courts and launching public campaigns to the same end.

“Now Johnson has decided to take them on with a trick or two of his own.

“Had more MPs been honest about their full intention, their own protestations about prorogation being a ‘constitutional outrage’ might at least have the ring of sincerity. As it is, they are the squawkings of a bunch of unscrupulous plotters who are now being played at their own disreputable game”.

It’s not difficult to detect more than a hint of admiration for Johnson and his “trick or two” against anti-Brexit MPs in the Morning Star’s comment. That tone of admiration was repeated in the weekend edition, which described the coup as “a muscular move” that “adds to the conviction held by mounting millions of electors that the gap between Parliament and the people is becoming the defining feature of our politics”.

The Morning Star claims to be opposed to prorogation (it could – in theory – be used “to impose reactionary policies”) and to want Johnson removed by means of a general election. But that election should result in “a government committed to a radical socialist agenda [that requires] our release from the straitjacket of the anti-democratic EU…”

A 31 August statement from the Communist Party of Britain (the group behind the Morning Star) revealed that they positively support no deal, and oppose all attempts even to delay it.

“The Party does not support any movement in the House of Commons or the courts to delay or block Britain’s exit from the EU or to rearrange parliamentary business in a way that maximises the opportunity for Brexit to be sabotaged. ...

“A significant majority of MPs have rejected all options for an EU exit over the past three years. PM Boris Johnson’s prorogation of the Westminster parliament is, more than anything else, a direct outcome of this relentless anti-democratic activity. Nevertheless, the Communist Party recognises that the proroguing of parliament risks playing into the hands of those who seek to create a constitutional crisis...

“However, the Communist Party also asserts that the prorogation of parliament is not the key issue in this political crisis of British state-monopoly capitalism. What must be won is the potential for a left-led government to implement a progressive programme unfettered by the neoliberal restraints of the EU and the machinations of the profit-grabbing monopolies whose interests it represents.

“Therefore, the EU referendum decision must now be honoured on October 31 2019, with or without a new or revised agreement with the EU...”

The mask has well and truly slipped: in essence, these people support what Johnson and Cummings are doing.

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