This was written on the morning of the EU elections, in which the Tories had been keen not to take part. The Guardian had described the day before as a “torrid day” for Theresa May and her resignation was now expected at any moment. Not a good day for the Tories to face an election. And towards the end of torrid yesterday, Andrea Leadsom, MP and Leader of the House, had made a move she thought might go down well…
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A private prosecution has been taken out against Boris Johnson MP, for claims he made during the 2016 EU referendum. After 3 years of preparation, it had its first hearing in private a few days ago. For an example of the Press coverage, see https://www.theguardian.com/…/boris-johnson-could-be-challenged-in-court…
Essentially, if the judge agrees that there is a case to answer, Mr Johnson will be charged in open court with lieing during the campaign, and therefore of “misconduct in public office.” This is a crime in the UK and if proven, is punishable.
All MP’s in the House of Commons have to swear to follow a code of conduct called the “Nolan Principles” which include an obligation and commitment to “tell the truth.” However, while the Leader of the Party to which a transgressor belongs is empowered to sack that person if he/she is found to have broken his/her oath, those powers are discretionary and “in-house”. The transgressor is not answerable under the law. So, if this case were to be pursued and Mr Johnson found guilty, it would create a precedent and would change our politics.
The stanza above is the latest in a series that now numbers over 80, which offer a sort of running commentary on the Brexit process. The stanzas are modelled on a sixteenth century poem by John Skelton, written in rhyme royal and apparently from a place of sanctuary in Westminster. It was called “Speak, Parrot.”
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In the UK, the local elections have just taken place, and the Tories did very badly and Labour just did badly. But that’s serious for Labour and for the rest of us. Labour should surely be a coming force by now, after month upon month of this worst of governments. Maybot and the Boy Jez have seen promptly how much they had in common and begun dating. What they don’t seem to see is that what they mostly have in common is their incapacity and self-deception. The stanza above begins with the parroting of a newspaper headline, quoting Sian Berry, the Greens’ co-leader. The Greens did rather well.
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This stanza was written on the day the Labour Party’s National Executive decided to support a second referendum on Brexit – but only in particular circumstances, all unlikely. Jez and a sufficient number of his adherents were clearly still keen on being seen to be “honouring” the result of the first referendum of 2016. That word “honouring” was deceitful, of course. To collude with that catastrophically wrong and misinformed “decision,” rendered anyway unsound by manifest corruption, was neither honouring nor honourable.
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In the third stanza of “Speak, Parrot” by John Skelton, you’ll find these lines : “With my bekė bent, my little wanton eye,/ My feathers fresh as is the emerald green,/About my neck a circulet like the rich ruby,/ my little leggės, my feet both feat and clean,/ I am a minion to wait upon a queen…”
Amen to the little leggės.
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Parrot has another go at making sense of what is happening in the world that swirls and shudders around his cage. This time he makes use of a few religious images
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Instead of “shakes the bars” the author might just as well have written “wracks his brains” – a more conventional image, though equally physical a description. But since the parrot lives in a cage, it seemed fitting that he should do some violence to that, instead of to himself.
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