It was, as Gina Miller said on the steps of the Supreme Court, Boris Johnson who brought this all down upon himself and it is now for him to accept the consequences.
Right has been done in the Supreme Court and now Johnson has to consider his position: 11 out of 11 of the most senior judges in the land are saying clearly and unambiguously that he has lied to the people, and he has lied, too, to the monarch about his reasons for prorogation, and that he has massively over-reached the powers of his office.
There are people who say that the law does not matter – that Johnson can put himself above it and that his current objectives are of such over-riding importance that it can be overridden. But that is not the British way and it must never be allowed to be. That is the way of anarchy and chaos.
No lawyer, no matter how brilliant, could argue the unarguable: that what Johnson had done was anything other than a huge and unprecedented power grab from the executive and away from the people.
Our prime minister has to act at all times within the law, and with the utmost honour and integrity. He has to represent all of the people at all times and at their very best. The holder of his office cannot and must not represent simply vested interests, nor media tycoons nor disaster capitalists, nor indeed any one extreme faction within his party.
Anyone worthy of the title of prime minister must, too, be willing to be transparent with parliament – always their superior – and to outline clearly their plans and to argue their case, to convince and never to coerce.
Prorogation is not, of course, unusual, but a prorogation of five weeks, imposed to stymie debate and scrutiny, of the means by which the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, was an unprecedented act. It was the executive trying to place itself above parliament, a denial of the parliamentary sovereignty on which our whole democracy rests.
Lady Hale, the president of the Supreme Court, rightly shut down any talk of Brexit as she heard evidence as the case had nothing whatsoever to do with that, but something so much more important and fundamental to our way of life.
Outside of the court there were men who saw this as an attempt to subvert democracy, but it was, on the contrary, an attempt to uphold it. They even threatened, despicably, to “hang, draw and quarter” Mrs Miller.
It is true that this is an issue upon which feelings run extremely high: but that is no reason to surrender fundamental freedoms we have taken for granted for centuries.
Mrs Miller recognised it was too important a matter on which to allow herself to be intimidated by bullies: each day last week she arrived and left court by the main entrance. Back doors may be the prime minister’s style, but they are assuredly not Mrs Miller’s.
This great and tenacious lady – I am proud to call her my friend – recognised from the outset that her case was so much more important than any one individual. More important than herself, the prime minister, and, for that matter, those men who shouted so loudly at her each day. This is about the country we will one day leave behind us to the next generation. This is about whether we are going to be a democracy in name only or a democracy in reality and in spirit.
Johnson’s lawyers did all in their powers to argue that prorogation was a matter for the prime minister alone and not therefore a matter for the judiciary to intrude upon, but nothing could get around the central fact that neither Johnson nor any of his senior ministers nor civil servants nor law officers were willing to sign a single affidavit to say that his act in proroguing for so long, and at such a critical moment in our history, had nothing to do with thwarting parliament.
Much has been made of the brilliance of Mrs Miller’s legal team, led by Lord Pannick, and I do not for one moment dispute that, but Johnson, for his part, assembled a formidable array of lawyers under Lord Keen who put their case as powerfully as they could.
At the end of the day, no lawyer, no matter how brilliant, could argue the unarguable: that what Johnson had done was anything other than a huge and unprecedented power grab from the executive and away from the people. It would have set a precedent that would mean any prime minister in future trying to implement an unpopular policy would merely have to opt for prorogation.
Our system has always worked with its checks and balances and our judiciary has just rebooted our democracy, and, in the process, closed a loophole in our unwritten constitution, so that it should now once again be able to function effectively.
It is now for the speakers of both Houses of Parliament to recall their members and set them to work scrutinising the plans and legislation that the Government is drawing up to put Brexit into effect on 31 October. Every single day will now count and their work could not be more important. Diabetics will need insulin, the food supply chain must be kept intact, our businesses will still need to trade overseas and import components and our ports must not be gridlocked: all of these matters and more must be subjected to proper scrutiny.
I salute Lady Hale and the judges of the Supreme Court for doing what our democracy requires of them and making Johnson aware that no one individual – not even the prime minister – is above the law. This has been a win not just for Mrs Miller, but for all of us and our way of life and it makes me proud of our great country.
Tim Walker is a political pundit and columnist
