Boris Johnson news: PM forced to return early from UN as Corbyn demands election following Supreme Court humiliation
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson is returning the UK to face urgent questions in parliament after the Supreme Court declared his government unlawfully shut it down for five weeks.
The prime minister was forced to cut short his trip to the UN General Assembly in New York to attend the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for Mr Johnson to “consider his position” following the landmark decision, while Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson said he was “not fit” to be PM.
Speaking in New York, the prime minister said his government will “respect” the court verdict and added that “of course parliament will come back”.
Downing Street confirmed that he had spoken to the Queen by phone but refused to say whether he had apologised for advising her to prorogue parliament.
It was also reported that Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the House, had described the ruling as a “constitutional coup”.
See below for our coverage of events as they happened
A reminder that our prime minister Boris Johnson is currently in New York City meeting other leaders at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Does he come back immediately? Will he be forced to come back tomorrow for PMQs? Is the government even in control of the agenda is parliament is recalled?
Plenty of calls from SNP MPs for him to resign, while Lib Dem Jo Swinson says he “isn’t fit to be prime minister”.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has now echoed the phrase used by Jeremy Corbyn by saying Johnson should now “consider his position”.
McDonnell added: “The Conservative Party itself should consider their wisdom in electing him as leader.”
Tory MP Tom Tugendhat is quick off the mark – he has shared a picture of himself in the Commons. Will more MPs join him today?
Lib Dem MP Tom Brake has just told Sky News he intends on doing the same thing.
Jo Swinson said: “I’m on my way to resume my duties in the Commons and stop Brexit altogether.
The Lib Dem leader said: “The court have found what we all knew all along, Boris Johnson has again proven he is not fit to be prime minister.
“This shutdown was an unlawful act designed to stop parliament doing its job and holding the government to account.
“Given this verdict, Parliament should be sitting so that we can continue to question the Conservative government on their disastrous Brexit plans.
“This verdict has been unanimously agreed by experienced judges who have considered the case on its merits, acting as impartial guardians of our democratic system.
“The rule of law is an important pillar of our democracy, and those looking to use this opportunity as an excuse to attack these judges would be not only attacking them, but also the entire principle of our legal system.”
Tory rebel Dominic Grieve says that Boris Johnson has “dishonoured the truth by what he’s been doing over the last eight weeks … if I were in his position I would go.”
Lib Dem MP Chuka Umunna has called on Boris Johnson to resign and for an emergency government to be formed.
He said: “This is a good day for democracy. It is quite unprecedented. This is not normal for a prime minister to be declared to having had acted in an unlawful fashion. In those circumstances you would expect the prime minister to resign, that is what should happen now,” he said.
Umunna continued: “I’m ready to go back to the House of Commons now and start work, at the very latest, according to our standing orders, standing order nine I believe, we should start sitting again at 11:30 tomorrow.
“It should be Prime Minister's Questions if the prime minister hasn’t resigned by that point, and then I think we need to form some sort of emergency government because the government we've got now is dysfunctional, it’s not sustainable.”
Shami Chakrabarti, Labour’s shadow attorney general said the prime minister has behaved like a “tin-pot dictator”.
“Boris Johnson has been called out today by the Supreme Court, the highest court in these islands. He has behaved like a tin-pot dictator.
“No one is above the law. Not even Boris Johnson and his arrogant, entitled chums are above the law. They have been getting away with things all their lives, but today they have been called to account.
“He should be ashamed of himself. He knows better. He had an elite education. He had every opportunity in life and he has behaved in the most appalling way and he’s been called out.
“Boris Johnson needs to reflect on this judgement and consider his position.”
Boris Johnson is, at the moment, still expected to give a speech to business leaders this afternoon in New York.
He is due to address entrepreneurs at Hudson Yards about why post-Brexit Britain should be “the best place in the world” to do business.
He is then scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump, Ireland's Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Iran's Hassan Rouhani, but with the court ruling things could change.
No 10 said they need “time” to respond. According to the blogger Guido Fawkes, the government whips have told “colleagues” not to comment on the Supreme Court verdict.
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