A Brief Guide To Boris Johnson’s Rather Confusing Friday

Sorry, I’m confused 

Don’t worry, so are the best of us, which brings us back to what Mr Maugham said earlier in the day as it is still relevant.

He said: “The Prime Minister’s playing a very odd game. It’s a very difficult game to understand because I think he told the House of Commons yesterday that we would leave come what may on October 31, and I do not understand how that statement can be reconciled with the promises that he’s made to the court today.

“There is no way to square that circle. And he is going to have to come clean either to Parliament or the court.”

How can he square that circle?

This isn’t clear at the moment but last in a speech last week, former prime minister Sir John Major said Johnson could use “political chicanery” and act “in flagrant defiance of parliament”.

Major said a legal mechanism called an Order of Council could be used to suspend the law prohibiting a no-deal Brexit until after October 31, by which time it would be redundant as the UK would have already left the EU.

He said doing so would be something “that no-one should ever forgive or forget.”

There are other potential options – he could also veto an extension or ask another member state to veto on his behalf.

And let’s not forget, it’s already been proven Johnson is not above dabbling in a little political chicanery – last week the Supreme Court ruled that he had acted unlawfully when he prorogued parliament. 

OK, so what happens next?

Brexit talks with Brussels on Johnson’s plan to replace the backstop could continue over the weekend.

Brussels said that “every day counts” as the clock ticks down to a crunch summit of EU leaders on October 17-18 and Downing Street said “we are ready to talk at any point, including over the weekend”.

The PM is expected to embark on a tour of European capitals for face-to-face talks next week as well as continuing to speak by phone to counterparts.

But unless he can produce something acceptable to the EU then a deal is unlikely to be reached and then, we’ll find out just how Johnson plans to square that circle…