Blue on blue: John Major to join anti-Brexiter Gina Miller’s prorogue battle against Boris Johnson
Former Prime Minister John Major has pledged to join Remainer Gina Miller’s judicial review of Boris Johnson’s attempt to prorogue parliament in run up to Brexit.
Major, a fierce critic of Brexit, will ask the High Court to join Miller’s existing review of Johnson’s decision to prorogue parliament for five weeks until 14 October.
Court hearing re @BorisJohnson proroguing Parliament will be heard next Thursday 5th September. I will be adjoined by Sir John Major.
— Gina Miller (@thatginamiller) August 30, 2019
Read more: Scottish court rejects legal bid to prevent Boris proroguing of parliament
The move, approved by the Queen earlier this week, would shorten the amount of time MPs have to debate Brexit ahead of the UK’s 31 October departure date.
Johnson has vowed to take the UK out of the EU with or without a deal by Halloween.
“To avoid duplication of effort, and taking up the Court’s time through repetition, I intend to seek the Court’s permission to intervene in the claim already initiated by Gina Miller,” Major said today.
“If granted permission to intervene, I intend to seek to assist the Court from the perspective of having served in Government as a Mninister and Prime Minister, and also in parliament for many years as a Member of the House of Commons.”
A Scottish court this morning threw out Miller’s request to temporarily block Johnson’s move to prorogue parliament.
The judge ruled he was “not satisfied” that a temporary suspension was necessary ahead of a full hearing on 6 September.
Johnson can prorogue parliament between 9 and 12 September until 14 October.
Major’s bid is being handled by Lord Garnier and barrister Tom Cleaver, on the instruction of Herbert Smith Freehills.
His decision to intervene is symbolic of huge Tory in-fighting as factions erupt over Johnson’s tactics to pursue Brexit regardless of whether the UK secures a deal in time for the deadline.
While hard Brexiters like Jacob Rees-Mogg insisted the proroguing of parliament is normal for a session that has lasted longer than most in recent years, other MPs slammed Johnson.
Dominic Grieve told Morning Wire earlier this week that a cross-party group of rebels are now fast-tracking secret plans to disrupt Johnson’s bid to suspend parliament.
Other high profile critics include former Treasury chancellor Philip Hammond, who has vowed to fight a no-deal Brexit.
UBS today warned that Johnson’s move hastens the potential outcome of a no-deal scenario.
Read more: UK house prices remain stagnant for ninth month in a row over Brexit fears
“In our view, the risks of a no-deal Brexit on 31 October have not increased, but the situation should come to a head sooner,” chief investment officer of UBS’s global wealth management division, Mark Haefele, said.
“Within international developed market stocks, we are tactically neutral on UK equities. The longer-term risk-return outlook for UK equities looks uncertain, in our view.”