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Thursday, January 24, 2019

The Tory Brexiteer MPs throwing their toys out of the pram over deadlock

You know that you have entered a parallel universe when those advocating we should leave the EU so as to 'take back control of our own country' appeal to a foreign power to overrule the democratic decision of an elected and sovereign Parliament. And yet that is precisely what has happened.

As Indy 100 reports, Daniel Kawczynski, the MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham in Shropshire, has formally asked Poland to veto any extension of Article 50. He revealed this startling news in a tweet:

“Today I have formally asked Polish Government to veto any motions by EU to allow extension of Article 50. “We are leaving 11pm on March 29th as promised.”

‘Strong and historic partnership’ He added in a subsequent message: “Our friends the Poles have taken a lead in the EU to better understand our perspectives and help us break impasse with Ireland and the EU.”

His demand was picked up by the Polish press, which carried his lobbying message: “In the light of our strong and historic partnership, I appeal to Polish representatives to listen and intercede for British arguments on Brexit and support us in the future compromises that we strive for in the talks with the EU, so as to break the stalemate and our exit from the EU took place for the benefit of the entire United Kingdom.” 

Jacob Krupa, a Polish journalist covering the UK, reported that government sources in Warsaw had already shot down Mr Kawczynski’s request. The sources reportedly said a no deal is the “worst possible scenario” and that any request to extend Article 50 would be evaluated as it comes.

As a request for an extension would likely originate from the UK side of negotiations rather than the EU side, this means Mr Kawczynski has potentially lobbied a foreign government to oppose the will of his own.

During the last great rift with Europe, namely Henry VIII's break with Rome and reformation of the Church, such actions would have led to summary execution. Can we expect even a censure from the sitting Prime Minister? It looks unlikely.

But then this is not the only bizarre action by a Brexiteer Tory MP. The Independent reports that Jacob Rees-Mogg has urged Theresa May to suspend parliament if attempts to thwart a no-deal Brexit are successful.

The Somerset MP, whose firm has set up a second investment fund in the Irish Republic to assist clients to avoid the consequences of Brexit, suggested Mrs May could “prorogue” parliament if a backbench bill tabled by Labour’s Yvette Cooper and Tory Nick Boles to block a disorderly Brexit is backed by MPs:

Mr Rees-Mogg told a meeting of the Bruges Group of Tory Eurosceptics that the efforts by backbenchers to drive parliamentary business were a “constitutional outrage”.

He said that no deal could only be taken off the table if the government “connived in doing it”. He added: “If the House of Commons undermines our basic constitutional conventions then the executive is entitled to use other vestigial constitutional means to stop it.

“By which I basically mean prorogation ... And I think that would be the government’s answer, that is the government’s backstop, to use a choice phrase.”

Prorogation is the time between the end of a parliamentary session and the state opening that marks the beginning of the next session. Under these circumstances, any pending legislation would fall, including Ms Cooper’s bill.

It is a strange argument to make that a majority vote in the House of Commons is considered to undermine 'basic constitutional conventions'. It is indicative of the mess we are in that MPs can believe that they will be taken seriously when they argue these things.

What is becoming clearer is that for many of these hardliners, 'taking back control' means getting their own way, and to hell with the interests of the country and the democratic norms by which we have been governed for centuries. Are we on the verge of a coup d'état?
Comments:
mogg, and others are . only wanting brexit for their own financial endsachieving brexit they will only get richer at the country and peoples expense.
 
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