Suspending Parliament ruled unlawful

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he's still cautiously optimistic about reaching a...
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he's still cautiously optimistic about reaching a Brexit deal. Photo: Reuters
Britain's Supreme Court has ruled Prime Minister Boris Johnson acted unlawfully when he advised the Queen to suspend Parliament just weeks before Brexit, sparking calls for him to resign.

Supreme Court president Lady Brenda Hale made the televised ruling on Tuesday morning (local time) and offered not a shred  of comfort to the beleaguered prime minister.

"No justification for taking action with such an extreme effect has been put before the court, she said. "....the Prime Minister's advice to Her Majesty was unlawful, void and of no effect."

The Guardian suggested the large spider brooch she was wearing may have given a clue to which way the ruling was going to go. "Wearing a spider to deliver news that trapped the Prime Minister felt pointed," it said.

Johnson, in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, said he would respect the decision but pledged to move on with Brexit.

A government official confirmed that Johnson had spoken to the Queen. Asked if it had been an apologetic call, the official declined to discuss the content of the conversation.

A Downing Street source said Johnson would not not resign and would fly back to London after his speech to the UN. He had been due to leave New York on Wednesday.

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn  is calling for his resignation, but said he would not press for a new election until he was sure Britain would not leave the European Union without a deal.

Corbyn said he would do all he could to ensure that Johnson takes a so-called no-deal Brexit "off the table", setting up an uncomfortable showdown for the Prime Minister, who insisted he would still oversee Britain's departure on October 31.

Lawmakers will now return to Westminster on Wednesday and try to force the Johnson to reveal his plans and rule out a no-deal Brexit.

Corbyn said Johnson's government would be held to account.

"Tomorrow parliament will return. The government will be held to account for what it has done. Boris Johnson has been found to have misled the country. This unelected prime minister should now resign," Corbyn told his party's annual conference in the English seaside resort of Brighton.

To thunderous applause, standing ovations and shouts of "Johnson out!", Corbyn said: "That would make him the shortest serving British Prime Minister in history and rightly so. His is a born-to-rule government of the entitled who believe that the rules they set for everyone else don't apply to them."

The mood in the hall was enthusiastic - a sharp contrast from a day earlier when Corbyn was criticised by some pro-EU lawmakers for pushing through his Brexit strategy - to try to win an election, and then hold a special conference to determine how Labour should campaign in any second referendum.

Corbyn is just one of several opposition lawmakers to increase the pressure on Johnson, whose hardline strategy to take Britain out of the EU, with or without a deal, appears now to be unravelling.

A spokesman for Corbyn said Labour was discussing all possible ways to force Johnson to respect a law which forces him to request a delay to Brexit if no deal is struck with Brussels at an EU summit on October 17-18.