Prime Minister's Update

Debate between Boris Johnson and Richard Burden

Wednesday 25th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady and appreciate the sincerity with which she makes her point, but I must say that it is my strong belief that if we fail to get Brexit done the disappointment, the sense of rejection, and the sense that the public have been cheated of what they were promised will be very grave indeed. I am afraid that the only way to alleviate the current tensions in the country is to deliver on the mandate of the people in a positive, confident and optimistic spirit. That is what we need to bring to this, and I hope that she agrees.

[Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield) (Lab)]

May I say to the Prime Minister that something that really disturbs me about how he is conducting himself tonight and about how some of his colleagues have conducted themselves in recent days has been the sense of privileged entitlement that they have exuded throughout? That privileged entitlement led him, during this statement, to describe it as “humbug” when an hon. Member talked about the threats that she was receiving. That sense of privileged entitlement led the Leader of the House to describe the situation when 11 justices of the Supreme Court of this land decided on the basis of evidence that the Prime Minister had broken the law as a “constitutional coup”. Does the Prime Minister agree that it is a constitutional coup—yes or no?

[The Prime Minister]

I must say that I do not think there could be any clearer example of a sense of privileged entitlement than for a parliamentarian to decide that he is in a position to substitute his own discretion for the will of the people when he clearly promised the people that that will would be respected and upheld.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Richard Burden

Tuesday 21st November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Boris Johnson]

I cannot quite agree with the construction my hon. Friend places on events, but I repeat my congratulations to the Indian judge. As the House will know, a long-standing objective of UK foreign policy has been to support India in the United Nations.

[Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield) (Lab)]

The military orders issued against the Bedouin villages of Jabal al-Baba, Ain al-Hilweh and Umm el-Jimal will involve the forcible transfer of over 400 people, which the director of the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem has described as a war crime. If Israel believes such actions can continue without consequence, what reason will it have to think it should do anything other than carry on with such actions with impunity?