PM's note defending parliamentary suspension released by court
In it, Boris Johnson said the September session of parliament was a "rigmarole" designed to show MPs were "earning their crust".
Thursday 5 September 2019 19:24, UK
A court has released a note marked "sensitive" and "Downing Street only" in which Boris Johnson defended the suspending of parliament.
The memo, entitled "ending the session", was sent to him on 15 August by his senior legal adviser, Nikki da Costa.
In his reply, dated 16 August, the prime minister described the September session of parliament as a "rigmarole" intended to show the public that MPs were "earning their crust".
A suspension would not be "anything especially shocking", he added, especially as it would be during the political conference season.
The number of "sitting days lost" would be "actually very few", Mr Johnson said.
The memo is controversial because on 25 August, Downing Street described reports that the prime minister would seek to prorogue parliament as "entirely false".
But a request by the prime minister for a suspension was approved by the Queen three days later.
The note emerged during legal action at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, aimed at halting a parliamentary suspension.
The court ruled on Wednesday that the planned prorogation - due to begin on Tuesday - is lawful. An appeal against that decision is underway.
Since he decided to prorogue parliament, Mr Johnson has suffered four defeats in two days, over Brexit and an early general election.
On Thursday, his brother Jo quit as a minister and as an MP, saying there was an "unresolvable tension" between "family loyalty and the national interest".
Speaking later in Yorkshire, the PM said he would "rather be dead in a ditch" than delay Brexit.