Another day, another Parliamentary coup

In the midst of a piece on the dreadful threat of a Johnson win ,the Observer casually drapes another dastardly plan (to be led by D. Grieve again, according to the Sunday Times,the man who makes the best case for the Toynbee Proposal to deny a voice and a vote to those who will not be around for the next Parliament):

For MPs concerned about his threat to leave the EU with no deal at the end of October, his clear lead has imbued a sense of determination. “I’ve had my period of mourning a long time ago,” said one. “It is going to be him. The key now is making sure we do everything we can to ensure that certain things can be stopped.”...For MPs opposing Johnson’s Brexit plans, attention has turned from stopping his administration to restraining it once in office. This week, a group of MPs will try to prevent Johnson from suspending parliament as a route to securing a no-deal Brexit that most MPs oppose. The plan, set to be unveiled as an amendment to a Northern Ireland bill tomorrow, is a sign of the determination of some to limit the room for manoeuvre of a Johnson premiership.

The editorial is predictable. There is the tiniest of straws to clutch:

Last week, the 160,000 Conservative members who will be making this choice on behalf of the nation received their ballot papers – some more than one, a farcical error that if left unrectified will undoubtedly call into question the legitimacy of the process.

Then the main themes:

in the effort to chase the votes of the tiny, unrepresentative sliver of the electorate that is the Conservative party membership, both men have moved definitively towards sacrificing the two long-standing creeds of British conservatism – the exercise of fiscal responsibility, and the conservation of the union – on the altar of a no-deal Brexit.

Why the Observer should care about sacrificing the tenets of British conservatism is not at all clear (!) After all:

This paper has been a staunch opponent of the austerity imposed on the country by successive Tory chancellors... Services for the most vulnerable children and adults have been left damaged as councils have seen government grants slashed by almost half. The priority for any new prime minister should be undoing these benefit cuts and increasing spending on social care, the NHS and schools.

So that is what 'fiscal responsibility' means? The sooner we  sacrifice it the better? Could all that be forgiven if only they would somehow Remain? Is the Observer sacrificing the economic welfare of the victims of austerity on the altar of Remain? Johnson and Hunt both seem to want to end austerity, although in ways that favour elites, of course

However, there are other factors:

In so openly contemplating crashing out with no deal, both Johnson and Hunt are treating the wishes of the people of Scotland and Northern Ireland with contempt, and are making the breakup of the UK more likely. 

The Observer means that minority of the Scottish and Irish population who voted Remain, and who together do not amount to the population of London? Their views should prevail? What about the minorities who actually want independence? Should we maintain the 'conservation of the union' against their wishes?

There is 'character' too, of course, an easier issue than the tricky one of rights of minorities:

All the polling evidence suggests that Conservative members will deliver a healthy majority for Boris Johnson, a man who has a long track record of misleading voters with impunity. He has misled the country about the implications of a no-deal Brexit, about the prospect of Turkey joining the EU, and about how much leaving the EU would free up in spending for the NHS. This is not a man fit to be prime minister. But the Tory membership don’t seem to care; one recent poll suggests that they would be happy to countenance significant economic damage and the breakup of the union in order to see Brexit happen.
Boris Johnson being handed the keys to Downing Street is the likely conclusion to a chapter of Tory party history that has seen it captured by a small group of Eurosceptic fanatics, who have no claim to represent the nation. 

Well, there was the Leave vote in the Referendum, of course, but Leave voters are clearly not 'the nation'. The clincher is probably small-c conservatism:

it would undoubtedly mark the start of an even more toxic and turbulent period for Britain.

Toxic and turbulent not just for the Northern working class this time,but for those who seem to believe they will be unable to 'travel,work and love across Europe', to paraphrase a tweet by D. Lammy (couldn't reference it -- he sends so many)