Why the far-left really does think there is a ‘coup’

On Saturday thousands of people across Britain demonstrated against Boris Johnson’s recently-announced prorogation of parliament.

Despite the heated response it provoked, proroguing parliament is a standard device which over the years has been employed by governments of all stripes. And as parliament was to be suspended for a few weeks during September and October in any case to allow the parties to hold their annual conferences, Johnson’s measure has reduced MPs’ time to prevent a no-deal Brexit by just a few days.

In the context of an unprecedented crisis, with the clock ticking down to October 31, the Prime Minister’s act of constitutional sharp practice nonetheless outraged those who demonstrated on Saturday. Those who took to the streets were, however, by no means all Rent-a-Mob, the kind of people who turn out rain or shine to sell Socialist Worker or the Morning Star. Although few were Leave or Tory voters, the protestors from Chester to Chichester were a relatively ecumenical bunch, mostly drawn from those Michael Frayn once described as ‘Herbivores’– ‘the radical middle-classes, the do-gooders’.