Alpha 
Post by fretslider on Sept 11, 2019 5:59:31 GMT -5
From Private Eye (Note that the magazine refers to the Queen as 'Brenda')
Although it took the nation by surprise, the prorogation plot had been agreed a full week before last Wednesday's Balmoral Privy Council. Brenda's private secretary Edward Young and his Downing Street counterparts had been in regular conversations for weeks, discussing various scenarios to end the Brexit stalemate.
Once everyone finally realised it would not be possible to keep Brenda out of it, they chose the least worst option. Presenting prorogation as a routine thing when Parliament was largely scheduled not to sit anyway gave the PM what he wanted and, theoretically, minimised the flak Her Maj would have to take. And where did the idea come from? A telephone conversation between Brenda and Boris Johnson.
Number 10's newbies may have been wargaming the options but Brenda has seen it all before. She was involved in the shenanigans surrounding John Major's hasty 1997 prorogation to avoid a 'cash for questions' embarrassment. And as her father's devoted understudy she observed George VI work with Clement Attlee when he had a constitutional crisis in 1948.
As well as agreeing the plan it was she, unusually, who insisted the Privy Council be held at Balmoral. She felt a return to London would fuel talk of crisis and chaos. Fixing the state opening for the week after Brenda is due back from Balmoral was also meant to create the impression that all is unexceptional.
Once the dastardly plan was ready to be enacted, three counsellors led by Jacob Rees Mogg were dispatched northwards on their top secret mission. There was an awkward moment when they encountered the former Black Rod David Leakey in the queue for the Flybe flight to Aberdeen, but they didn't divulge their mission even to him. Unfortunately for the trio, someone blew the gaff by whispering into Laura Kuennsberg's ear.
Despite everything else going to plan, all is not well. The Palace, backed by Downing Street, emphasised that Brenda was simply doing what she was told. But that only served to expose the powerlessness of the monarchy. Such a public display of powerlessness strengthens critics questioning the purpose of an ever-expanding and increasingly profligate royal family.
For 67 years Brenda has been passive. She has let the politicians get on with it, on the understanding that her PMs would reciprocate by not interfering in royal family matters. Only Tony Blair put his head above the parapet when Brenda was getting it all wrong after the death of Diana, and she did not appreciate that. But with Prince Andrew currently undermining the institution as never before, this is a bad time to be drawing attention to the monarchy's constitutional pointlessness.
Although it took the nation by surprise, the prorogation plot had been agreed a full week before last Wednesday's Balmoral Privy Council. Brenda's private secretary Edward Young and his Downing Street counterparts had been in regular conversations for weeks, discussing various scenarios to end the Brexit stalemate.
Once everyone finally realised it would not be possible to keep Brenda out of it, they chose the least worst option. Presenting prorogation as a routine thing when Parliament was largely scheduled not to sit anyway gave the PM what he wanted and, theoretically, minimised the flak Her Maj would have to take. And where did the idea come from? A telephone conversation between Brenda and Boris Johnson.
Number 10's newbies may have been wargaming the options but Brenda has seen it all before. She was involved in the shenanigans surrounding John Major's hasty 1997 prorogation to avoid a 'cash for questions' embarrassment. And as her father's devoted understudy she observed George VI work with Clement Attlee when he had a constitutional crisis in 1948.
As well as agreeing the plan it was she, unusually, who insisted the Privy Council be held at Balmoral. She felt a return to London would fuel talk of crisis and chaos. Fixing the state opening for the week after Brenda is due back from Balmoral was also meant to create the impression that all is unexceptional.
Once the dastardly plan was ready to be enacted, three counsellors led by Jacob Rees Mogg were dispatched northwards on their top secret mission. There was an awkward moment when they encountered the former Black Rod David Leakey in the queue for the Flybe flight to Aberdeen, but they didn't divulge their mission even to him. Unfortunately for the trio, someone blew the gaff by whispering into Laura Kuennsberg's ear.
Despite everything else going to plan, all is not well. The Palace, backed by Downing Street, emphasised that Brenda was simply doing what she was told. But that only served to expose the powerlessness of the monarchy. Such a public display of powerlessness strengthens critics questioning the purpose of an ever-expanding and increasingly profligate royal family.
For 67 years Brenda has been passive. She has let the politicians get on with it, on the understanding that her PMs would reciprocate by not interfering in royal family matters. Only Tony Blair put his head above the parapet when Brenda was getting it all wrong after the death of Diana, and she did not appreciate that. But with Prince Andrew currently undermining the institution as never before, this is a bad time to be drawing attention to the monarchy's constitutional pointlessness.
