THE HOUSE of Commons erupted in an unprecedented exhibition of rage and fury by Labour MPs over Boris Johnson’s refusal to apologise for having lost in the Supreme Court the day before and for insisting that he would not request an extension of Article 50 from the EU.
On Tuesday, eleven unelected judges had executed a judicial coup by ruling that the suspension of Parliament was illegal and therefore had never happened.
Back in their seats the following day, Labour was incandescent with fury over Johnson’s lack of contrition, with Corbyn demanding that he apologise to the Queen and country and obey the ‘rule of law’.
The law that Labour are demanding Johnson obey is the bill tabled by Labour MP Hilary Benn, passed just before the suspension took place, which instructs Johnson to write begging the EU for an extension, a law designed specifically to kill off a No-Deal Brexit.
Johnson’s refusal to state categorically that he would do this and his insistence that the UK could leave the EU on October 31st without a deal drove them wild, as did Johnson brushing off demands he resign and his insistence that the Supreme Court ruling was wrong before challenging the opposition to back a general election.
But their fury turned to incandescent rage when Johnson called Labour’s Benn act a ‘surrender bill’, accusing Jeremy Corbyn and Labour of ‘cowardice’ and ‘running away’ from a general election and that this was a betrayal of the referendum vote.
He accused Corbyn of trying to thwart Brexit while running scared of an election by refusing to call for a vote of no confidence in the government, saying ‘The people outside this House understand what is happening … The leader of the opposition and his party don’t trust the people.’
The Labour Party has created a situation where Johnson can pose as the defender of the will of the people expressed in the referendum vote, against a Labour Party hell-bent on betraying the democratic vote of 17.4 million workers. If that is not surrendering to the EU and betraying the working class, then what is it?
Unable to answer this damning accusation of betrayal, Labour turned to attacking the language used, claiming it was inflammatory and liable to provoke violence.
One Labour MP even invoked the tragic murder of Jo Cox by a far-right extremist as a warning about using words like ‘surrender’ and ‘betrayal’.
Labour’s Paula Sherriff attacked Johnson for calling the Benn bill a surrender bill, saying that ‘We should not resort to using offensive, dangerous, inflammatory language for legislation we do not like.’
The fury from Labour and the other Remainer parties continued the next day, with Labour MP Jess Phillips claiming that the government’s language is ‘entirely designed to inflame hatred and division’.
Behind all the sound and fury from the Labour Party, is the inescapable fact that Johnson is speaking the truth – Labour have betrayed the referendum result which they fought the last general election on a solemn pledge to uphold.
In place of Brexit, they have a policy of using the courts to force Johnson to ask for an extension of Article 50 and if he refuses, the courts will instruct another minister or a civil servant to carry out the surrender.
Only after Brexit has been wiped off the table will Labour risk a general election in the hope that their treachery will be forgotten.
This anger and fury felt by millions of workers at this betrayal has nothing to do with the words used by Johnson but the fact that Labour and the Remain parties have spent the past three years plotting to overturn a result they never agreed with.
What is clear is that, with the Supreme Court intervention and a parliament dominated by Remainers, the only way forward is for the working class to take mass action in a political general strike to shut down parliament and take power by establishing a workers government.
A workers government will leave the EU on October 31st and end the rule of the bosses and bankers by expropriating them and building a socialist planned economy.
Only the WRP fights for this policy – join today!
