Boris Johnson was advised in mid-August to suspend parliament, court documents published on Tuesday have revealed.
No.10′s director of legislative affairs, Nikki da Costa, sent the prime minister and his top adviser Dominic Cummings a note on August 15 to suggest the plan.
A note of “yes” was written on the document, the Court of Session in Edinburgh heard.
The following day, Johnson sent a handwritten reply which said the September session of parliament was a “rigmarole” introduced “to show the public MPs are earning their crust”.
Johnson added he did not see “anything shocking” about a move to prorogue parliament.
On August 24, The Observer reported Johnson could prorogue parliament and had sought legal advice.
In response, a No.10 spokesperson denied it was under consideration.“The claim that the government is considering proroguing parliament in September in order to stop MPs debating Brexit is entirely false,” the spokesperson said.
But on August 28, the Queen approved Johnson’s request to allow him to suspend parliament from Monday September 9 until October 14.
Johnson’s decision to cut short the session, reducing the number of days MPs opposed to no-deal had to work with, prompted a fierce backlash.
Jeremy Corbyn branded it an “a threat to our democracy”. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon branded Johnson a “tin pot dictator”
House of Commons Speaker John Bercow said it was a “constitutional outrage”.
The move promoted MPs, including Tory rebels, to act today to try and block a no-deal Brexit by seizing control of the parliamentary timetable.
During the Tory leadership contest, Johnson told Tory MPs he was “clear” that he was “not attracted” to proroguing parliament.