The outlaw government must go!
- Written by John Rees
- Published in Latest News

Boris Johnson Photo: Wikimedia Commons
John Rees on the next step to elect a socialist government
The Supreme Court decision that Boris Johnson acted illegally in proroguing Parliament must surely be the final blow to his already enfeebled Prime-Ministership.
Never elected to the job in a general election and without a majority in the Commons, Boris Johnson’s attempt to evade Parliamentary scrutiny has spectacularly hit the buffers.
Jeremy Corbyn is absolutely right to insist on both the immediate recall of Parliament and for Johnson‘s resignation.
Johnson has few options left. But one would be to re-introduce his motion for a general election which has previously been rejected twice by Labour and the other opposition parties.
That was a mistake before, but it would be simply untenable now.
No national government can solve this crisis, no mere return to business as usual in parliament can deal with the fallout of this decision.
Anything but a general election is a shameful attempt to shut the mass of the people out of any role in solving this crisis. It would be an assault on democracy, not the upholding of democracy.
Only a general election which offers the chance to clear the Tory villains out of government is an adequate solution.
Jeremy Corbyn’s authority in his own party has been re-established by the defeat of the faith-Remainers assault on his leadership.
Any right-thinking political strategist can surely see that we should already be in the general election. If this legal bombshell had exploded in the middle of an election campaign Boris Johnson’s chances of winning would have fallen through the floor.
But, however that may be, a Tory prime minister found by the highest court in the land to be breaking the law is surely a moment where the entire labour movement should be demanding a general election.

John Rees
John Rees is a writer, broadcaster and activist, and is one of the organisers of the People’s Assembly. His books include ‘The Algebra of Revolution’, ‘Imperialism and Resistance’, ‘Timelines, A Political History of the Modern World’, ‘The People Demand, A Short History of the Arab Revolutions’ (with Joseph Daher), ‘A People’s History of London’ (with Lindsey German) and The Leveller Revolution. He is co-founder of the Stop the War Coalition.
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