A very odd day today. Sadly it was another where I couldn't follow everything as much as I'd have liked. I saw a few hours of parliament earlier today, then spent an hour or so catching up just now.
We've had Brexit blocking shenanigans courtesy of the Letwin amendment. Meaning no actual vote on the deal today. Then in the last few hours Boris has sent the letter to the EU requesting an extension. Only, he hasn't signed it, and has sent another explaining the situation and why he believes an extension would be a disaster - which he did sign. The old double letter work around.
The is what I find mildly unsettling. Obviously I'm fully behind Boris in spirit, but I really can't see how he wins the inevitable court case. They will simply say his actions go against the spirit and intention of the Benn Act. Perhaps there is some way around this which I'm missing. Perhaps there is some big master plan. I don't know.
Again, there have been so many tricks from the remain side that I'm fully on board with Boris from a moral stand point, but the courts have not been a friend of Brexit. So they're not just going to let him semi-ignore the act. It's like if you close your front door on someone and tell them they can't come in. They can't just come in through the window and say "ah, you didn't say anything about not going through the window." It doesn't work like that. We all know what was meant. It's clear and obvious from the context regardless of the specific wording.
Also this will give Remainers a heightened sense of righteousness and another "moral" cause to rally around. Perhaps this is the Dominic Cummings plan. Certainly the next time parliament sits (thank God they're not sitting on Sundays now too) then we'll have a stream of speeches and outrage over the "law breaking". It could be insufferable.
It's hard to tell what the courts will do as well. What judgement or punishment will they dish out, if any? What can they do? Remainers are already talking about jail (!) That sounds ridiculous, but it sets the bar high in the public mind - so anything less might seem more reasonable.
And what will the EU do now? They have the letter so presumably they have the option. I bet they just wait for the court case, then when it judges against Boris, use that as legitimacy to give an extension. That's of course if we get a judgement before the 31st. Which I really have no idea how likely that is or what the timetable will be.
My overriding worry is that we reach a point where officers of the law are in some situation where they're forced to choose between following the courts or following the government. Not necessarily over this specific issue, but perhaps further down the line. Surely it can't come to that though. In this case I would imagine that Team Boris, as with the last court case, will just respect the judgement of the court and move on ..but that sets a precedent where parliament can turn the PM into a marionette without actually taking charge themselves. It's crazy.
Also this is the second time now the moral high ground has been conceded. So it's possibly eating into the Brexit narrative in a way that's counterproductive. The charge from remain was always that leave won unlawfully. Now we'll potentially be reinforcing that narrative. Then again what else can Boris really do. The only real other option is to limp along getting pushed around by a parliament that refuses the opportunity to form a government itself. I fear we will now be in a situation where we have rule by a coalition of remain parliament and court judgements. Where they can pass any law through parliament and use the courts to force it through regardless who the leader is.
It's late and it's been a long day though. So perhaps I'm needlessly overthinking.
No comments:
Post a Comment