What is prorogation and why is Boris Johnson using it? (UK the Florida man of Democracy?)

[SteveG]

and here you thought American politics is messed

What is prorogation and why is Boris Johnson using it?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/201...son-brexit

read it and then explain to me why such a thing even exists..thanks

[Acer]

Conservatives abusing a long-standing parliamentary gentleman's agreement to ram through their policies. Could never happen here, though.

[SteveG]

Acer wrote:
Conservatives abusing a long-standing parliamentary gentleman's agreement to ram through their policies. Could never happen here, though.

which of course brings:
Would be very hard for Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain’s Labour Party, to seek a no-confidence vote against New Prime Minister Boris Johnson, especially in light of the fact that Boris is exactly what the U.K. has been looking for, & will prove to be “a great one!” Love U.K.
August 28, 2019
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

[SteveG]

Henry VIII would have had them all executed.

[$tevie]

It seems as if this is a ceremonial thing, to clear the decks for the next session -- but can be weaponized, although doing so seems to be quite rare.

https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-h...rogation1/

https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-h...orogation/

https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/occa...orogation/

[Lemon Drop]

Boris wants to run out the clock and do Brexit his way. Which sounds pretty disastrous.

Sorry they had to drag Her Majesty into this. She's managed for over 60 years to stay clear of politics, though I've heard she's pretty unhappy with the apparent inability of her country's elected officials to lead.

[J Marston]

It's a holdover from the days when monarchs directed Parliament. If a king or queen had a Parliament that was responsive to their wishes, they would "prorogue" it rather than call new elections. In this way some parliaments continued for years, albeit with long recesses. It hasn't been used in this way for nearly two centuries until Boris came up with this clever way to stymie debate.

[deckeda]

His entire platform is Brexit-or-bust. Or Brexit-and-bust, whatever. It's going to happen, chaos be damned because there IS no plausible "deal " possible under all the restrictions conservatives have levied. Brace for impact is the preferred plan.

We feel your pain, Brits. Been there, still doing it.

[Speedy]

The queen could have gone against the Conservatives, called it undemocratic or something.

[Lemon Drop]

Speedy wrote:
The queen could have gone against the Conservatives, called it undemocratic or something.

that would've been good but so against her character and beliefs and about her role, I think. she doesn't publicly challenge a Prime Minister but trusts them to do their jobs. I don't think she ever has and she's been through what 14-15 of them?