Solid Workers

Another day, another disaster for Boris Johnson. In ordinary times, the decision by the Supreme Court that determined his prorogation of parliament was unlawful and, in effect, he lied to the Queen would be career ending. The lectern should be pitched in Downing Street and Johnson is there, crying crocodile tears down the world's cameras. Alas, this is not to be. Downing Street has " leaked " its displeasure to Laura Kuenssberg, saying "We think the Supreme Court is wrong and has made a serious mistake in extending its reach to these political matters." And this is the line most of the right have taken. Despair is stalking the land tonight alright, but this time it's team leave who are left to grieve. You didn't need much in the way of legal training to note the government's case before the Supreme Court was tissue thin, and the position led by Lord Pannick on behalf of centrist celebrity much more convincing. All the government could muster was a p...

This Wednesday morning was going to be less than normal as far as British politics is concerned anyway . A reverberation of discontent after the final day on the farm , a routine scabby intervention from Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, and Scotland's Court of Session virtually certain to turf out the legal challenge brought by Joanna Cherry and others concerning prorogation. What happened next was your reminder that there is no such thing as certainty in these febrile times. The judgement handed down by Lords Carloway, Drummond Young, and Brodie was as astonishing as it was damning. Beneath the legalese of the written decision (full verdict will be released on Friday), the judges agreed with the litigants that Boris Johnson's prorogation of parliament was unlawful. The stated reason his government put forward, to effectively clear the decks so Johnson can have his Queen's Speech and unveil his legislative programme was bunkum. Instead, closing down everything - remember...

"Though I would win my appeal against expulsion", goes the blurb fronting up Alastair Campbell's thwarted resignation letter from Labour, "your losing mentality and lack of Brexit leadership mean I won’t return". I'm sure readers share with me the deep sadness that his malevolence won't be returning to the party for the foreseeable. Truly a black armband day. Before we look at Campbell's letter proper, let us briefly examine his claim that he would win his appeal. The grounds for this boast are fanciful to say the least, assuming the appeal would be conducted by the rules and the panel isn't stuffed full of old Blairites. Readers will recall he invited automatic exclusion from the party for using the very considerable platform he commands to say he voted Liberal Democrat in the EU elections. As a voluntary party, Labour as per any party has the right to oblige its members to do certain things, like vote for it. As the rule book says, anyone ...

Let's be quite clear about Julian Assange: he's a pretty awful character. Few but the most blinkered would disagree with Judge Michael Snow's description of him in court this afternoon as "a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest". And there are the politics too. Despite his status as a cause célèbre /poster boy for a section of the left, his views are anything but. Look how Assange has reciprocated their solidarity by hobnobbing with Nigel Farage and supporting Donald Trump . Not the kind of person the left would normally locate on their side of the barricades. But ah, Wikileaks. Undoubtedly Assange and his associates did the world a favour by publishing secret documents and diplomatic cables, including graphic evidence of war crimes by the United States army in Iraq - earning him the undying enmity of the foreign policy establishments in the US and the West. So yes, it is a disgrace that the US are attempting to extradite him on spurious coun...