Boris Johnson 'will today ask the Queen to SUSPEND Parliament days after MPs return to work just...

[Denzil_DC]

4. Statement from Bercow's office:

Johnson's letter to MPs:




The Privy Council will meet at Balmoral today to discuss the prorogation.

It's not unusual for the government to control the timing of the Queen's Speech, but the five-week suspension is unusual in length (the longest Parliament has been suspended in the last 40 years is three weeks, and on occasion it's been suspended for just a few days between suspension and the Queen's Speech).

Those left with egg on their faces include Amber Rudd and Nicky Morgan, who denied this move was on the cards, an anonymous government spokesman four days ago, who said, "The claim that the government is considering proroguing parliament in September in order to stop MPs debating Brexit is entirely false," and Andrew Webster, QC for the government in the Court of Session on 13 August, who asserted during proceedings to block prorogation (which are still ongoing, and the parties led by QC Jolyon Maugham, MPs Joanna Cherry and Ian Murray et al. are urgently seeking an interim order to prevent suspension) that it was "misreading and misrepresentation" to claim Johnson wanted to obstruct or delay that process.