Lord Sumption: Judiciary stepped in to curtail Johnson’s ‘disgraceful constitutional abuse’
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Lord Sumption
A former judge has said the Supreme Court moved the boundaries of the law because of a “particularly disgraceful constitutional abuse” by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Lord Sumption said that the advice given to the UK government in the recent Miller prorogation case was “in line with the orthodox view of the law as it was before the Supreme Court pronounced” and that it is the advice he himself would have given.
He added that the government’s lawyers had no reason to “feel embarrassed”.
“It was the line which was accepted as correct by three experienced judges of the Divisional Court in England,” he said, adding “actually, I think it’s the advice that I would’ve given”.
He explained that the law had to step in to right Mr Johnson’s wrong.
“What has happened is that in the face of a particularly disgraceful constitutional abuse the courts have now moved the boundaries – and that’s what happens if you have a power and you abuse it, you find that the system steps in to curtail it.
“This is how our constitution, which is famously flexible, ought to work,” he said.
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