Mike Holden - Politics blogs

Last week government announced that it intends to prorogue parliament from the 8 th to the 14 th of October in preparation for a Queen’s Speech. This was not unexpected but the timing causes concern that it could lead to a No Deal Brexit on the 31 st of October. Whether this happens or not, this could be the most dramatic Queen’s Speech in living memory. According to the schedule, parliament will be suspended, legally this time, from next Tuesday until the 14 th Oct, with a Queen’s Speech on that day. The six-day prorogation is a more usual length of time associated with preparations for a Queen’s Speech, unlike the previous five-week long attempt which was of course annulled in the Supreme Court. The Queen’s Speech allows the government to set out its priorities and programme for the coming session, although this one will be unusual in that a General Election is almost certain before any government business gets underway in parliament, so it will be more of a Party Polit...

Opening scene - The State Funeral of Jacques Chirac, World Leaders lining the pews of a cathedral. In bursts Prime Minister Boris Johnson halfway through Ave Maria, tripping over the floral tributes and accidentally squeezing the thighs of a few female mourners on the way to the front. He takes a pew between Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel. It's like the final scene from Ocean's Eleven (Not the George Clooney version, the far better Rat Pack original ). As the eulogies are being delivered Johnson leans over to Macron and Merkel & whispers at the top of his voice: "Hey lads, I've got a plan. I've finally got a plan!" M&M look at him, shocked that he would interrupt a funeral, and more shocked that he has a plan. BJ: "No hard border in Ireland. Cracked it. I was looking at a map of Ireland with this thin line while I was painting a bus on a bit of wood & I suddenly thought 'Hang on, what if it's more of a s-m-e-a-r ?'...