Boris Johnson denies lying to the Queen over proroguing parliament

Boris Johnson denies lying to the Queen over prorogation, despite Scottish court finding he did.

Boris Johnson has denied lying to the Queen over suspending parliament, saying it is “absolutely not” true that he misled her, despite a Scottish court finding he had done so.

In a continuation of the most extraordinary of Brexit upheavals, Mr Johnson was asked if he had lied to the monarch in order to prorogue parliament for five weeks. He is accused of bullying tactics to prevent parliament from trying to avoid a no deal Brexit.

He responded: “Absolutely not’’.

The ruling from Scotland’s highest civil court came after the high court of England earlier threw out a similar complaint by 70 MPs, finding suspension of parliament was a power of the Prime Minister.

The Scottish Session court ruled however that Mr Johnson’s motivation was “improper’’.

The Supreme Court will sit for three days next week in a constitutional showdown and make a ruling on the legality of the parliamentary suspension, which could result in parliament being recalled, Mr Johnson being forced to resign, or a vote of no confidence in the Tory-DUP leadership.

Speaking on a visit to a naval vessel on the Thames to announce new shipbuilding contracts, Mr Johnson told reporters: “The high court in England plainly agrees with us but the Supreme Court will have to decide. We need a Queen’s speech, we need to get on and do all sorts of things at a national level.

“Parliament will have time both before and after that crucial summit on October 17th and 18th to talk about the Brexit deal.’’

The European Union is to hold a summit on the 17th and 18th, and Mr Johnson is hopeful the EU will agree to alter the Irish backstop part of a deal.

He has repeatedly insisted that if that doesn’t happen he will take the country out of the EU without a deal. However parliament has ruled he must ask for a Brexit extension on October 19 if he has failed to reach a deal with the EU.

“I’m very hopeful that we will get a deal, as I say, at that crucial summit. We’re working very hard — I’ve been around the European capitals talking to our friends,’’ Mr Johnson said.

“I think we can see the rough area of a landing space, of how you can do it — it will be tough, it will be hard, but I think we can get there.”

But EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said there was “no reason to be optimistic”. David Sassoli, the president of the European parliament, said the EU would extend the Brexit deadline if there were overriding issues such as avoiding a no deal, or a general election.

Meanwhile, the High Court in Belfast on Thursday dismissed claims that a no deal Brexit would undermine the Good Friday Agreement. One of three joined applicants in the case was Raymond McCord, whose son was killed by loyalist paramilitaries in 1997. Judge Bernard McCloskey rejected the case, saying the issues at hand were inherently and unmistakably political.

Also on Thursday the government was forced to defend its Operation Yellowhammer assessments about the impact of a no deal Brexit, which were released late Wednesday night.

There was confusion about the released documents and whether they were the worst case scenarios, as titled on the papers or a “base’’ scenario as Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said they were originally titled. The documents spell out long delays at the borders and shortages of medicines and some foodstuffs.

Mr Johnson said: “It is very important to understand what this document is: This is a worst-case scenario which civil servants obviously have to prepare for, but in the last few months, and particularly in the 50 days since I’ve been prime minister, we’ve been massively accelerating our preparations.

“But if we have to come out on October 31st with no-deal we will be ready and the ports will be ready and the farming communities will be ready, and all the industries that matter will be ready for a no-deal Brexit.

“What you’re looking at here is just the sensible preparations — the worst-case scenario — that you’d expect any government to do.’’