Rebel MPs are working on a plan to thwart Boris Johnson pursuing a no-deal Brexit on 31 October that involves forcing parliament to sit through the autumn recess, amid growing outrage about the power and influence of his controversial aide, Dominic Cummings....[and]...mounting urgency because of the hardline tactics of Cummings, who one Conservative insider described as running a “reign of terror” in No 10 aimed at achieving Brexit on 31 October at any cost....The ultimate aim would be to pass a bill forcing the government to request an extension to article 50 from Brussels.
Experts said it was a plausible plan for cross-party rebels to seize control of the order paper via motions for recess, which are called “periodic adjournment motions”. They are not normally amendable, but John Bercow, the Speaker of the Commons, caused major controversy in January when he defied this convention and allowed Tory MP Dominic Grieve to amend a similar motion
Must be serious if they vote to miss their party conference jollies. Let's prepare the ground with this:
alarm is mounting within No 10, among some special advisers and Tory MPs about the scale of Cummings’ influence and willingness to defy parliament....One Conservative insider said that Cummings had in effect demanded control over Johnson’s operation as his price for entering government and proceeded to sideline more moderate advisers, such as ex-City Hall stalwart Sir Eddie Lister, while installing a team of “true believers” in hard Brexit largely from the former Vote Leave campaign...The source described Cummings’ grip over No 10 as a “reign of terror”, with advisers petrified about keeping their jobs and being told they are expected to be working flat out to deliver Brexit come what may by the 31 October deadline....A Tory special adviser told the Guardian that Cummings was “absolutely running the show” and was even more ruthless and difficult to work with than Theresa May’s former advisers Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill: “The level of terror is greater than Priti Patel would like to exert on the criminal classes....“Cummings is an unelected backroom adviser, and there’s a worry the PM is becoming just a front for his ideological plans.”
Of course, the Grun is an entirely balanced and objective newspaper that would never just treat the briefings of embittered Remainers as news, so it also has this:
Cummings does have some supporters, including one special adviser who worked under the last two administrations, who said: “Dom wants people who can do the job well, will actually deliver on the PM’s priorities and will give honest answers when there are problems. In the last government you could get fired simply because someone else was having a bad day.”
Elsewhere old boiling Kettle (who chips away rather than bangs on -- apologies to him) had a more nuanced (sic) piece:
Boris Johnson’s top adviser may be making all the headlines, but he’s not calling the shots on Brexit
Right back to the original éminence grise in 17th century France, Père Joseph, and probably beyond, the mystique of the all-seeing adviser behind the throne has been a constant theme. But how well grounded is this in reality? What we do know is that those who work in the shadows are catnip to journalists who know less than they pretend about the workings of government....This sort of thing breeds resentment. Cummings already risks appearing – and being – the over-mighty subject of what is anyway a precarious and sectarian government.
Cummings does not control events. He is not Prospero, able to conjure up a tempest that delivers his enemies into his hands. He is having a good run, but he is helped by the most irresponsible parliamentary summer recess of modern times. Even now MPs should be aiming to get back to Westminster and hold the government to account before the planned return on 3 September. They should scrap this year’s party conferences too....The idea that he [Cummings] pulls all the strings is lazy and wrong. The Brexit outcome depends on a tangled web of interests and influences beyond his control.
Then, remarkably for Kettle, the Owl of Minerva is allowed to circle above:
Think too about the economic and political pressures bearing in again on all the protagonists. ...Britain will suffer most from no deal...[but]...A detailed survey in March by the Bertelsmann Foundation concluded that Ireland in particular will be very hard hit, as will northern France, Belgium and parts of the Netherlands....It is nevertheless possible that time-limiting the backstop in some way – five years is mentioned in some circles – and agreeing to negotiate the issues in the political declaration in good faith over an agreed timetable might, just might, make a difference.This is very nearly an understanding of the confrontational strategy after all. Has Kettle stopped chipping at last?
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