Boris Johnson steps up attack on ‘peculiar’ Supreme Court judgment
The Prime Minister said the 11 justices who ruled his suspension of Parliament unlawful had strayed into answering a political question.
Boris Johnson has suggested that judges should be subject to “some form of accountability” following the Supreme Court ruling that his suspension of Parliament was unlawful.
The Prime Minister said the “peculiar” judgment raised “very interesting constitutional questions”.
He offered support for a suggestion by Attorney General Geoffrey Cox that in future Supreme Court justices may need to undergo US-style vetting by politicians.
“I think, if judges are to pronounce on political questions in this way, then there is at least an argument that there should be some form of accountability,” he told the Sunday Telegraph.
“The lessons of America are relevant.”
On the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, he said: “I think that the judgment by the 11 justices was certainly novel and peculiar in the sense that they went against the Master of the Rolls and the Lord Chief Justice in extending the remit of the court into what was, I think, obviously a political question.
“The consequences of that decision are going to be working their way through for quite some time.
“You are now already starting to see a backlash of people questioning the implications of that decision.”
But he said he “humbly and sincerely” accepted the judgment of the court.
The Prime Minister refused to confirm reports that he had apologised to the Queen over the Supreme Court case.
“I’m not going to go into my conversations with Her Majesty,” he said.
Number 10 confirmed he spoke to the monarch in the hours after the court’s ruling but would not go into details of what was said.
The Sunday Times reported frustration in Buckingham Palace with the Prime Minister.
A Whitehall source told the newspaper “they are not impressed by what is going on — at the very highest levels of the family” while a royal source confirmed that the Queen’s senior advisers are “fed up”.
