Would love it, fucking love it, if Boris and Rees Mogg inadvertently started the destruction of the monarchy.
’A hideous moment for the Palace’
Jonny Dymond
BBC royal correspondent
This is a hideous moment for the Palace.
The Queen had very little discretion over whether to prorogue Parliament; she acts in this case on the advice of her prime minister.
Whilst some argue that Boris Johnson lacked the legitimacy of other prime ministers, and that this might have swayed the Queen’s decision, that would have meant stepping into (even more of) a constitutional minefield.
But to have an Order in Council – the exercise of Royal Prerogative, the mechanism by which the prorogation takes place – ruled unlawful and void, is breathtaking.
Worse for the Palace, and for the Queen, is the spotlight this throws onto all the dark corners of the British constitution.
For decades, for centuries, it’s been governed by convention and precedent, and an unspoken agreement not to push things too far. Boris Johnson blew that apart.
And now the demands for a written constitution are coming. And with them the inevitable question – just what role should there be for a hereditary monarch?
