UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson would have no option but to recall MPs to Westminster if the supreme court rules he misled the Queen, senior legal sources told the Observer on Saturday.
There is a growing belief in the legal community that the court would find against the government when it hands down its momentous verdict on Johnson’s decision to prorogue parliament.
The prospect of the court finding against the prime minister has left the UK heading towards a “constitutional eruption of volcanic proportions”, according to another senior legal figure who asked not to be named. He said he also believed the case would go against the government.
Before the case, few thought the court would determine that Johnson’s advice to the Queen to halt parliament for five weeks would be found unlawful. But over the course of the three-day hearing opinion has dramatically shifted.
“The dominant feeling among informed observers is that the government is on the ropes and it’s going to lose,” said Philippe Sands QC, professor of law at University College London.
