James Kirkup James Kirkup

It’s time David Cameron returned to fix his Brexit mess

In private moments of exasperation with rebellious Tory MPs, prime minister David Cameron used to complain that “too many of my colleagues think they’re here as tribunes of the people”. For him, as for Conservatives since the days of Edmund Burke, MPs should be representatives autonomously exercising judgment, not delegates meekly obeying instructions.

Well congratulations Dave. Thanks to your brilliant decision to risk EU membership – and the entire British political settlement on a coin-toss, MPs are all tribunes now.

There are some serious caveats about the ComRes poll on the front of the Daily Telegraph today: the question looks loaded and the “don’t know” figure is very high. But the fact that proroguing Parliament to let the executive have its way over Brexit isn’t simply rejected out of hand is another sign of how the referendum has eroded the conventions that underpin our constitution.

For all the reasonable criticisms of that poll, it is hard to deny that a non-trivial number of people would now be quite content if Parliament was set aside to deny MPs a say on the form and fact of our EU exit. (For a more balanced poll, see this by YouGov. But even that shows that 24 per cent of respondents would support suspension. Don’t let justifiable doubts about the ComRes poll blind you to the bigger picture: millions of people are quite relaxed about binning Parliament).

The speed and scale of Britain’s constitutional revolution is stunning. It’s less than three years since judges in the Gina Miller case invoked Dicey to remind the country that the “will of the people” is expressed through acts of Parliament. Now we’re seriously debating whether to suspend Parliament to prevent it having a say on what the executive says is the will of the people.

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