This archive report was first published on 14 September 2019.
On the eve of Britain's Brexit deadline, the country's politics were in disarray. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's brother, Jo Johnson, a member of Parliament and government minister, had announced his resignation, citing a conflict between family loyalty and the national interest.
Prime Minister Johnson remained resolute, insisting he would rather be 'dead in a ditch' than ask Brussels for another delay in Britain's departure. However, his call for an election was met with resistance from the opposition, which declined to give him the necessary two-thirds backing of Parliament.
Professor Anand Menon of King's College London observed that 'Parliament is divided, clueless, and doesn't know what it wants.' This sentiment was echoed by the British people, who have seen the political debate change beyond recognition due to Brexit.
Despite the stresses on Britain's democratic institutions, they have held so far. The country's unwritten constitution has provided flexibility in resisting the government, but also forced momentous decisions into the judicial and political spheres, with unpredictable outcomes.
Professor Timothy Garton Ash of Oxford University noted that 'The line between a political crisis and a constitutional crisis in a country with an unwritten constitution simply isn’t a bright line.' He added that 'With an unwritten constitution, you leave many of these questions to the political process. We are precisely on the ill-defined frontier between a political and constitutional crisis.'
