Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson’s Not Good, Very Bad Week

I know, I know, another political entry. But I thought I’d just wrap up the week.

By the way, the title is our Prime Ministers full name.

On Monday, Hillary Benn tweeted out the cross party bill he was hoping to introduce to the House to prevent a No Deal Brexit. As a piece of legislation, it is a work of art. It leaves Johnson absolutely no wiggle room, even writing the letter Johnson has to deliver to the EU asking for an extension. This was accompanied by an announcement that there would be an effort under Standing Order 24 for the Commons to seize control of the order paper on Wednesday from the Government so this bill could be debated.

This was followed by a speech by Johnson. In this speech, he said nothing except that he didn’t want a General Election. During this speech, due to it being held outside 10 Downing Street, you could clearly hear people chanting “Stop the coup”.

At the same time, it was being briefed that Johnson was going to call for a General Election, to be held on October 14th. It was also briefed that any Tory MP’s who voted against the Government in the SO24 vote would lose the whip*.

Tuesday saw Parliament return from the summer recess and the start of Johnsons first full week as PM in the Commons. It started with a statement from him about the G7 summit. During this speech, one of the Tory MP’s, Peter Lee, literally crossed the floor and joined the Liberal Democrats, reducing the Governments working majority to zero.

Then came the SO24 debate. During this, Jacob Rees-Mog, Leader of the house and nicknamed the Honorable Member for the 18th Century, was widely criticised for lying down on the front bench.

Then there was the division. When the votes were counted, the Government lost 328 – 301, making Johnson the first Prime Minister since Pitt the Younger to lose their first Commons vote. Sure enough, he said he would call for a General Election the next day.

21 Tory MP’s rebelled. All 21 were kicked out of the party. This further reduced their “majority” to -43. Included in the 21 were Ken Clarke, Father of the House and well respected parliamentarian, Nicholas Soames, grandson of Johnsons hero Sir Winston Churchill, Phillip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Theresa May and Rory Stewart, rising star in the party who found out by text while accepting the GQ Politician of the Year award.

Wednesday was a busy day. It started, as Wednesdays always do, with Prime Ministers Questions. Or, to be more accurate this week, Prime Ministers Evisceration. It was absolutely brutal as MP after MP stood up to have a go.  The absolute highlight was this question from Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

Then there was the debate on the Benn bill.  A slight bit of bizarreness here as one ammendment, calling for the current Working Arrangement (the one that has been rejected 3 times already) was approved as the Government didn’t provide tellers to count the Nay votes.  Eventually, the bill passed 327 – 299.  Second vote, second loss for Johnson.

Then there was the debate on the General Election motion.  And back to kicking Johnson.  Highlights included Ken Clarke sounding like a parent who isn’t angry, just very, very upset and the speech by Jess Phillips.

This one went 298 – 56.  So, that’s a win for Johnson, right?  Well, not so fast…

This one was done under the Fixed Term Parliament Act.  Under said act, a General Election will be held every five years.  There are only two ways two hold a General Election earlier than that.  The first is if there’s a Vote of No Confidence in the Government and no-one else can form a Government that could have the confidence of the House within 14 days.  This needs a simple majority.

The second was to pass a motion calling for a new GE.  This route was the one taken by Johnson, gambling that the other parties wouldn’t be able to vote against.  Especially Labour, who had been calling for a GE for months.

Except the other parties smelled a trap.  Though Johnson was saying he wanted a GE on Oct 14th, it was possible he would then change the date to after Halloween, meaning hard Brexit.  So, Labour abstained (which was a good move) and the Government won.

So, that’s it, right?  Upcoming General Election.  Well, not so fast.  For a GE to be held under a motion calling for one, it needs to pass with a 2/3rds majority.  Not of the MP’s who take part in the vote.  Of every single MP.  This includes the Speaker, who doesn’t vote, and Sin Fein, who don’t even take their seats in the House on ideological grounds.  Which means it needed to pass by a minimum of 433 votes.  Which it clearly didn’t.

This means that Johnson is the first PM ever to lose their first three votes in the Commons.

There was chat that the Lords would filibuster the Benn bill until the proroguation and txhe bill would die.  Early Thursday morning, it was announced that this would not happen.  The Lords started debating the bill on Thursday.

Then it was announced that Business Secretary would be resigning as a minister and stepping down as an MP at the next election.  Does the surname sound familiar?  That’s because Jo Johnson is the brother of the PM.  Furthermore, he stated that the reason for doing this was the tension between family loyalty and the national interest.

Ouch.

Johnson (Boris, not Jo) made a speech on front of police recruits.  He started an hour late, saw a cadet pass out behind him and as for the speech?  Well, I’d call it rambling and incoherent except that would be an insult to things which are rambling and incoherent.  It was, to be blunt a fucking shitshow.  In addition, the fact that he would be giving a speech like that at the event, leading to more criticism.

Today, the Benn bill passed the Lords.  It was also announced that it would receive Royal Assent, meaning it will become law.  It was also announced that Monday would see another call for a GE.  The thinking is that with the Benn bill passed, there’s no reason for the other parties not to vote for.  Except they’ve already said they will until the extension is requested before granting a GE.

And there we have it.

Will

*As I’ve been asked this before, when an MP loses the whip from a party, they are no longer considered members of that party and are now independent MP’s. Unless they choose to join another party. They can also not run for re-election as a member of said party.