UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was on camera on Thursday revealing that Johnson’s suspension of parliament is driven by a Brexit agenda.
The video was shot at an informal summit of defence ministers in Helsinki, Finland.
The footage shows Wallace speaking to French counterpart Florence Parly, saying that due to the deadlock and the House of Commons not supporting the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, the Prime Minister needs to least.
“Parliament has been very good at saying what it doesn’t want. It has been awful at saying what it wants. Our system is a winner-takes-all system. If you win a parliamentary majority you control everything, you control the timetable. There’s no written separation, so… you pretty much are in command of the whole thing. And we’ve suddenly found ourselves with no majority and a coalition and that’s not easy for our system.”
He admitted that he did not know what the outcome of the move would be, punctuating the conversation with an ironic: "politics."
This is contrary to statements by the prime minister on Wednesday that it was “completely untrue” that Brexit is behind the 'prorogation' of parliament.
Johnson's official reason was to suspend parliament for 5 weeks before a Queen's speech on 14th October - Just weeks before the 31st October Brexit deadline - that will lay out the agenda of the new government.
This was also the reason he reportedly gave to Queen Elizabeth II, whom he asked for permission before shutting down the house, prompting accusations that Johnson lied to the monarch.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace caught on camera explaining the real reason why Parliament has been prorogued.
— Charlie Proctor (@MonarchyUK) August 29, 2019
Nothing to do with a new agenda - it is all about numbers as the government knows they can’t command a majority in the House of Commons, thus they have misled The Queen. pic.twitter.com/kJ5CtLPuep
No. 10 responded to the footage saying that the Defence Secretary “misspoke and was not involved in discussions about the Queen’s speech."
The video appears to vindicate suggestions that Johnson blocked parliament to prevent MPs looking to use legislation to block a no-deal Brexit, which the PM has said he would be willing to implement if it meant leaving the EU by the established deadline.
Opposition MPs, led by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, vowed on a cross-party basis earlier this week to try and block leaving the EU without an agreement, even through a Vote of No-Confidence in the government to bring down the ruling Conservative Party and install an interim government.
The decision from the PM has been met with widespread criticism, even from his own party, seeing the resignation of Scottish Conservative Leader Ruth Davidson and his Chief Whip George Young.
It was also met with a petition in opposition which quickly reached over 1 million backers within the first day, as well as a declaration from pro-Corbyn grassroots group 'Momentum' that they would block roads and streets in protest.
However, the leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, insisted that the suspension was "constitutional and proper."
