How will Raab’s prorogue comments play out with Tory MPs?

To prorogue or not to prorogue? That’s the question dividing the Brexiteer candidates today following the One Nation conservative hustings. After Boris Johnson, Andrea Leadsom and Sajid Javid on Tuesday all ruled out proroguing Parliament in order to achieve a no deal Brexit in the event that MPs tried to block one, Dominic Raab used his appearance on Wednesday night to tell a group of MPs that he would not rule out suspending Parliament to bring about the UK’s exit from the EU – with or without a deal.

Proroguing Parliament is what happens at the end of every parliamentary session. In terms of Brexit, the theory goes that a way to stop MPs blocking Brexit through votes would be for a prime minister to simply suspend Parliament and send MPs home until the UK had left the EU. As Parliament is technically ‘prorogued’ by the Queen, some argue such a move would be a constitutional issue that would involve the monarchy in politics.