Boris Johnson has detonated a bomb under the constitutional apparatus of the United Kingdom. The prime minister’s request to the Queen to suspend parliament for up to five weeks, ostensibly to prepare a new legislative programme, is without modern precedent. It is an intolerable attempt to silence parliament until it can no longer halt a disastrous crash-out by the UK from the EU on October 31. The seat of British democracy, long admired worldwide, is being denied a say on the most consequential decision facing the country in more than four decades. So, too, are the British people — in whose name Mr Johnson claims to be acting. It is time for parliamentarians to bring down his government in a no-confidence vote, paving the way for an election in which the people can express their will.
鮑里斯•強森(Boris Johnson)在英國憲政機構下引爆了一枚炸彈。這位首相假借準備一項新的立法計劃的名義，請求女王批准長達五週的議會休會期，這在英國現代史上是史無前例的。讓議會不能發聲、直至其不再有能力阻止英國於10月31日災難性跌出歐盟，是一種令人無法容忍的企圖。英國的民主政體長期受到全世界尊敬，而議會作爲英國民主政體的中心，在國家面臨40多年來最重大的決定之際被禁聲。被禁聲的還有英國人民——強森號稱以他們的名義行動。是時候由議員們通過不信任投票推翻他的政府，爲舉行讓人民表達意願的大選鋪平道路。