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Johnson apologises to the Queen over Parl suspension

Last Updated 29 September 2019, 13:24 IST

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reportedly apologised to Queen Elizabeth II over the Supreme Court verdict earlier this week against his decision to prorogue Parliament.

Johnson telephoned the Queen on Tuesday after the UK Supreme Court ruled that he had been “unlawful” to suspend Parliament for five weeks, The Sunday Times reported.

A No 10 Downing Street source told the newspaper: “He got on to the Queen as quickly as possible to say how sorry he was”.

The Supreme Court rebuke has reportedly led to a breakdown of trust between Buckingham Palace and Downing Street.

“They are not impressed by what is going on — at the very highest levels of the family,” a government source was quoted as saying.

A royal source claims that the Queen’s senior advisers are “fed up”.

A palace official revealed that Johnson is now as distrusted as former British Prime Minister David Cameron, who had revealed details of his conversations with the Queen while promoting his memoir in a breach of protocol.

“It’s difficult to tell which of them they are crosser with, Cameron or Boris,” the source told the newspaper.

Johnson suspended, or prorogued, Parliament for five weeks earlier this month, saying it was to allow for a Queen's Speech to outline policies of his new government.

However, Opposition MPs and many members of his own Conservation Party had accused him to trying to escape parliamentary scrutiny during a crunch phase ahead of the October 31 Brexit deadline.

The Supreme Court had stopped short of declaring that the advice given by Johnson to Queen Elizabeth II, who is expected to formally give the go ahead, was improper.

It was a question they did not need to address since they had already found that the effect of the prorogation was itself unlawful and the MPs returned to the House of Commons a day later.

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(Published 29 September 2019, 12:20 IST)

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