1/ Surprise! Cummings' latest wheeze doesn't work on any level. The principles referred to here:
a) don't exist any more;
b) wouldn't apply to this situation if they did exist; and
c) wouldn't help Johnson if they did apply.
a) don't exist any more;
b) wouldn't apply to this situation if they did exist; and
c) wouldn't help Johnson if they did apply.
2/ The principles don't exist any more because they concern when the Queen can turn down a PM's request to dissolve Parliament. But the dissolution of Parliament is no longer based on the PM's request, but on the Fixed-term Parliament Act, as we saw last month.
3/ As section 3(2) of the Act says, parliament 'cannot otherwise be dissolved' except under the Act's rules for either an early election (section 2) or the expiry of a regular five-year term as set by section 1: legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/14/…
4/ Next: the principles wouldn't apply to this situation even if they still existed, because they concern a request to dissolve parliament. This isn't about a request to dissolve parliament, but whether a PM must step down after losing a no-confidence vote & there's a replacement
5/ Finally: the principles wouldn't help Johnson anyway, because the whole point of them is that *another dude gets a shot at being PM without an election* - exactly the *opposite* of what Johnson is claiming. (cf King-Byng in 1926, as all Canadians know)
6/ We may be seeing a lot more of this gif in the Cummings era ///
7/ Here's the former Lord Chancellor making the same points, but without gifs
8/ The same points again on Cummings' latest cunning plan, put more succinctly than I did
9/ Exclusive footage of Cummings invoking the Lascelles Principles
10/ Another good critique of the latest Cummings wheeze
11/ And another critique of Cummings' cunning plan from a constitutional law prof
12/ The text of the cabinet manual on PM resignation...
13/ A further rebuttal of Cummings' argument that Johnson cannot be forced to resign:
14/ More expert analysis of the question of whether the Queen could dismiss Johnson
