Maajid Nawaz: How The Queen Will Support Proroguing Parliament For Brexit Deadline
6 July 2019, 14:09 | Updated: 6 July 2019, 14:21
Maajid Nawaz demonstrates how the Queen will allow Boris Johnson, if made Prime Minister, to prorogue Parliament to deliver Brexit by the end of October.
Conservative leadership hopeful Boris Johnson has refused to rule out proroguing Parliament in order to make sure the United Kingdom leaves the EU at the current deadline of October 31st - a controversial move that would end the current parliamentary session.
But Maajid Nawaz, who has previously tested the Queen's power to block Brexit legislation from being passed into law, outlines how the Monarch could actually lead Britain to a no-deal Brexit.
Speaking on his LBC show, Maajid said the proposition of proroguing Parliament would put the Queen into a difficult situation but she could only 'proceed as normal'.
- What Is Proroguing? Why Are Brexiteers Considering It? When Has It Been Used Before?
"In such a predicament, the Queen not suspending Parliament on behalf of the Prime Minister would be an active act of refusal," Maajid said.
"It would be the Queen proactively saying no to a Prime Minister's request. It would immediately politicise her position, drag her into politics, and out her as a Remainer.
"I think it's an easier sell for the Queen to claim she hasn't been politicised than it would be, to say one word to a Prime Minister, no."
Maajid continued: "I think saying the opposite of what a Prime Minister requests of her, to say no in that situation, would be seen as activism.
"Because it's changing something, it's doing something differently, it's not a 'more of the same' stance - it would be seen as a proactive intervention."
But adding that a poll suggests a majority of Conservative members would support the idea of Boris Johnson proroguing Parliament in order to deliver Brexit by the end of October, Maajid said he thinks the Queen "would simply do what she's always done and just sign the piece of paper".
"Therefore we'll end up with a situation that Boris Johnson will get us out of the European Union whether Parliament supports him or not."
Watch in full above.
