In a verdict unprecedented in British legal and constitutional history, the Supreme Court consisting of eleven of the most senior justices, today ruled unanimously that the current Conservative Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had acted unlawfully in his prorogation (suspension of) Parliament.

The ruling stated that the prorogation was null and void, therefore Parliament had not, in fact, been suspended. It is now for Parliament to decide what to do next. Speaker John Bercow has said the House of Commons ‘must convene without delay’.

It is accepted by legal authorities, of all persuasions, that today’s judgement is one of the most important made by the Supreme Court in living memory.

Owing to the seriousness of the unlawful act, it is expected that Boris Johnson will resign his position within hours.  If so, it is obviously important that his cabinet who supported him should likewise resign their posts – in particular, the Home Secretary and the Transport Secretary who were so enthusiastic in acting outside the law and in making a laughing stock of the oldest democratic legislature in the world.

Johnson is today attending a climate conference in the United States and is expected to return to hand in his resignation within hours.  If so, it will have been the shortest tenure, in that position, in Britain’s history.