Thread by @ianbirrell

What ministers said about prorogation before they put their own careers before the interests of the country

1) @NickyMorgan01, culture sec: 'It would lead to a constitutional crisis.'

2) @MattHancock, health sec: 'There is this idea from some people that to deliver Brexit we should suspend our parliamentary democracy, we should prorogue parliament. That goes against everything those men who waded onto those beaches fought & died for - and I will not have it'

3) @AmberRuddHR dd work & pensions sec: 'The idea of leaving the EU to take back more control into parliament and to consider the idea of closing parliament to do that is the most extraordinary idea I've ever heard. It is a ridiculous suggestion to consider Proroguing parliament

4) Sajid Javid, chancellor: You don't deliver on democracy by trashing democracy . . . we are not selecting a dictator of our country"

5) @MattHancock again: Proroguing Parliament undermines parliamentary democracy. I rule it out and call on all candidates to do the same

6) @AmberRuddHR again: 'I think it’s outrageous to consider proroguing Parliament. We are not Stuart kings.”

7) @MattHancock yet again: 'A policy on Brexit to prorogue Parliament would mean the end of the Conservative Party as a serious party of government'

8) @michaelgove, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: 'I think it will be wrong for many reasons. I think it would not be true to the best traditions of British democracy

9) @NickyMorgan01 again: 'Proroguing Parliament is clearly a mad suggestion. You cannot say you are going to take back control … and then go: ‘Oh, by the way, we are just going to shut Parliament down for a couple of months, so we are just going to drift out on a no deal’

@NickyMorgan01 10) @andrealeadsom, business sec, was asked if she could go along with such a plan. 'No I don’t believe I would and I don’t believe it would happen.'

@NickyMorgan01 @andrealeadsom 11) @andrealeadsom also said: 'It's certainly not something I would seek to do. I'm passionate about parliament democracy.'

@NickyMorgan01 @andrealeadsom [Reports tonight say there was no dissent expressed from cabinet ministers. According to the Guardian Amber Rudd was 'more reserved than others' but Nicky Morgan was as 'enthusiastic as Andrea Leadsom' in supporting the plan]

@NickyMorgan01 @andrealeadsom 12) @GeorgeFreemanMP, transport minister: 'The idea that a new PM will want, let alone be allowed by backbench MPs or Peers, to prorogue Parliament is bonkers. It would look appalling.'

@NickyMorgan01 @andrealeadsom @GeorgeFreemanMP [Sir John Major, former Tory PM: 'I cannot imagine Mr Disraeli, Mr Gladstone, Mr Churchill or Mrs Thatcher even in their most difficult moments saying let us put parliament aside while I carry through this difficult policy that a part of my party disagrees with.’]

@NickyMorgan01 @andrealeadsom @GeorgeFreemanMP 13) @michaelgove again: 'One reason I argued to leave the EU was to make our parliament stronger, to reinvigorate our democracy. It would be a terrible thing if having said we should have more power in our country & trust our institutions more we shut the doors of parliament'

@NickyMorgan01 @andrealeadsom @GeorgeFreemanMP @michaelgove 14) @BorisJohnson, PM (h/t @Sandbach): 'I would like to make it absolutely clear that I am not attracted to arcane procedures such as the prorogation of Parliament. As someone who aspires to be the PM of a democratic nation, I believe in finding consensus in the House of Commons'

15) Downing Street spokesman to BBC: ‘The claim that the government is considering proroguing parliament in September in order to stop MPs debating Brexit is entirely false.’ (Via @iainjwatson)

@iainjwatson 16) @MPIainDS, former Tory leader, asked yesterday if he believed his successor might prorogue parliament? 'No I don't. Boris Johnson was clear about this and I'm fully in agreement - we don't need to prorogue parliament.