Scuffle breaks out in British Parliament as suspension takes effect

The British PM’s controversial suspension of Parliament took effect Tuesday, but not before protests and a scuffle broke out between MPs.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s controversial suspension of Parliament took effect early Tuesday, and lawmakers did not go quietly: they chanted, held up protest signs, and tried to physically restrain the Speaker from leaving his chair to end the session.

Outraged at the government’s ploy to shut down Parliament for five weeks, less than eight weeks before the country is due to leave the EU, Parliament’s Speaker, John Bercow, initially resisted participating in the ceremonial formalities to suspend Parliament, and a scuffle broke out as opposition MPs tried to keep him in his seat.

Bercow eventually agreed to participate in the ceremony to trigger the suspension, but not before delivering a withering indictment on the government’s actions. “I do want to make the point that this is not a normal prorogation,” he said.

“It’s one of the longest for decades and it represents, not just in the minds of many colleagues, but huge numbers of people outside, an act of executive fiat.”

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

2 Comments

  1. Out of Thin Air
    September 12, 2019

    Folks, I have a proposal that will be a lot less complicated and costly than the upcoming general elections.

    Let us lace up Skerrit and Linton in a pair of red and blue Everlast boxing gloves respectively and let them slug it out it out on election day in a boxing ring at the Windsor Park.

    Tickets will be offered on a lottery basis with the unfortunate lottery losers having the opportunity to watch this mega showdown via live TV.

    The winner of the bout would be declared Prime Minister. Details on the selection of the MPs are pending. Recommendations from the public are welcomed.

    For those who who are quick to dismiss my recommendation as a ridiculous idea, I ask you to consider the absurd recent British Parliament slugfest and the continuous, ridiculous all out political war occurring daily on the DNO comment posts.

  2. September 11, 2019

    Hummmmmm! i wonder what Allix Boyd Knight”s reaction would have been if she were Speaker of that Parliament; interesting. It’s the British Parliament madame speaker for crying out loud.

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available