A New English Civil War?

Sept. 25, 2019 (EIRNS)—In the current strange circumstance, in which the government of the United Kingdom wants a new election and the opposition refuses to allow it, Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to the re-opened House of Commons tonight, addressing Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn: “Is he going to vote a no confidence in this government. Or is he going to dodge a vote of no confidence in me as Prime Minister in order to escape the verdict of the voters?”

Corbyn is claiming he won’t support a new election until Johnson takes the no-deal Brexit off the table, but it is clear that Corbyn knows, or expects, that Labour would lose such an election, and Johnson would emerge with a more stable majority.

With both parties in a state of turmoil, the parallel to the English Civil War was practically played out in the Commons earlier today when Attorney General Geoffrey Fox gave a speech sounding very much like Cromwell shutting down the rump Parliament in 1653. (A 1970 film, “Cromwell,” with the lead played by Richard Harris, depicts Oliver Cromwell raging at the MPs: “An unmovable Parliament is more obnoxious than an unmovable King. You are drunkards, tricksters, whoremasters, no more capable of conducting the affairs of this nation than of running a brothel.” After more of this, he called in soldiers to throw them all out.

Attorney General Fox called in no soldiers, but he said the following:

“This Parliament is a dead Parliament. It should no longer sit. It has no moral right to sit in these green benches.... Twice they have been asked to let the electorate decide upon whether they should continue to sit in their seats, while they block 17.4 million people’s votes [to exit the European Union]. This is a disgrace. Given the opportunity, they could vote no confidence at any time, but they are too cowardly to have a go. They won’t, because what they are really about is preventing us from leaving the EU at all. But the time is coming, Mr. Speaker, when all of these turkeys won’t be able to prevent Christmas.”