Editorial Board
Boris Johnson’s Brexit Gamble Is Failing
A stunning rebuke from the Supreme Court is the latest signal that the prime minister needs to rethink things.
Not a great start.
Photographer: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
As U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson sat at the United Nations in New York, his political strategy was collapsing at home.
On Tuesday, Britain’s Supreme Court shot down Johnson’s decision last month to suspend Parliament. It was an unequivocal rebuke: All 11 justices concurred that Johnson’s plan was “unlawful, void and of no effect” and rejected each of the government’s arguments to the contrary. The ruling’s implication: The prime minister had been disingenuous about his motives and acted only to prevent Parliament from thwarting his Brexit plans.