The unthinking, thinking the unthinkable — will Hammond & Co bring down Boris?

Spoiled brats, thrown toys, and the creaking perambulator that is Parliament

We are entering yet another momentous week in the turbulent political life of our country during this decade.

Tomorrow the result of the Conservative Party leadership contest will be announced. On Wednesday Theresa May — the worst Prime Minister in the lifetimes of our editorial team — will answer her final PMQs in the House of Commons before visiting Her Majesty to tender her long-overdue resignation.

Prima donnas — Jumping before they’re pushed

Before she goes to the Palace Mrs. May will, in turn, receive the resignations of a raft of deplorable, as these dilettante anti-Brexit Ministers rush to resign before being fired by the (probable) incoming Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

A delicious irony will be the fact that this will only increase Mrs. May’s record of being the Prime Minister who lost the largest number of Ministers during her tenure of №10 Downing Street.

Her tally currently stands at 50 — a record for any Prime Minister — and she achieved this in less than three years.

Yesterday Philip Hammond announced that he will resign if Boris Johnson wins, and others will be queueing up. They are fooling no-one of course. The simple fact is that many of the Cabinet and many of those in other ministerial positions have presided over a deliberate attempt to thwart the will of the British people and will most definitely be surplus to requirements under a Johnson administration. In effect, they have fired themselves.

An audience with Her Majesty

Following Theresa May, Boris will then proceed to the Palace — without his consort Carrie Symonds — where Her Majesty will invite him to become the fourteenth Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland under her reign.

How many toys will be thrown, how far, and when?

One possibility that does not seem to have been considered by the commentators in the newspapers we have read in recent days has been the nuclear option. I would not normally raise this possibility, but after more than three years of witnessing the increasing desperation and apparent derangement of some who favoured remaining in the EU, I must pose this.

The Government currently has a majority of four, taking into account the ‘Supply and Confidence’ support of the DUP from Northern Ireland. If three ministers do not only resign their posts, but also resign the Conservative whip at the same time, the new Government of Boris Johnson would lose its majority.

This does not only apply to ministers of course but to other disgruntled and bitter individuals such as Dominic Grieve, who sit on the backbenches.

Last week a total of 36 Tory MPs voted against the Government or abstained on the amendment to an obscure motion, designed to prevent Brexit. In doing so, they defied a 3-line whip. Ten of these rebels were ministers, yet they were not fired by Mrs May as would normally have been the case.

Do you see where I am going with this?

Bringing down Boris before he has even started

Is it credible that a former Prime Minister, former Chancellor and other ministers could bring down their own Government by their actions from the backbenches?

In ordinary times the answer would clearly be no. Their party loyalty would be too great. That said, “we live in interesting times”, as the old saying has it. It must also be remembered that we have a virulently anti-Brexit Speaker of the House of Commons who will stop at nothing, it seems, to aid and abet anti-democratic MPs in their attempts to stop Brexit from happening.

Back to spoiled brats, their toys, and the Parliamentary pram

I ad I am sure you do consider the antics of anti-Brexit ministers and MPs to be simply deplorable. In this category, we have to include the current Prime Minister Theresa May, the current Chancellor Philip Hammond, many ministers and a large number of MPs of all parties.

Yesterday on the BBC’s appalling Marr programme Hammond talked about the UK being a representative democracy.

In general terms he is right, but on this occasion, the MPs delegated the decision to the British people in the form of an in-out Referendum.

I am bloody angry

We chose out. We did not choose:

“Leave, but only on the terms, our MPs might decide once they’ve messed up the negotiations for three years.

The then Prime Minister David Cameron was unequivocal: “We will implement what you decide.” He also promised that if we voted to leave then Article 50 would be invoked “the next day”.

This is about democracy. Hammond, you owe your Parliamentary career to democracy and have been perfectly happy to respect the decision of your electorate in giving you a job for the last 22 years.

How dare you try to invoke the concept of ‘representative democracy’? You were told what to do by the British people over three years ago. You have been a major part of the problem. If you don’t like it, tough. Live with it.

Frankly, throwing your toys out of the pram is not a good look for a former Chancellor.

[ Sources: UK Parliament | Carrie Symonds Twitter feed ]