Prorogation

Her Majesty the Queen yesterday approved a request from her Prime Minister to prorogue Parliament from September 9th-12th until October 14th. On the latter date, Her Majesty will open a new session of Parliament. It is customary for the Commons to be suspended ahead of such an occasion, but the PM is accused of stifling debate ahead of the looming date of Brexit, October 31st.

Boris Johnson is being accused of leading a Latin America style junta (or dictatorship), and his decision will likely attract legal challenges and a vote of no confidence in his administration.

My reaction is: what's the fuss all about.

We have had 38 months, since the Brexit referrendum, to organise the event. Previous PM Theresa May did not, in all that time, manage to get a deal (come to hate the word) that gained the approval of Parliament. That is an abysmal failure, on the side of the UK government as well as on the part of the EU.

To try to cobble together a new deal in a few weeks is unrealistic. The current one took more than two years to compile, and the EU (rightly) declines to change anything in it now.

The default option, and likely outcome now, is for Brexit to happen without a deal in place, with consequences unknown. We were never told what a no-deal Brexit would entail, because it would be negotiated - which has failed. To try to avert that now, at the eleventh hour, is unrealistic.

Good grief.