IF Boris Johnson leaves office before November 20, he’ll become the shortest-serving UK Prime Minister, beating George Canning, who died after 118 days in office in 1827.
Even if he doesn’t achieve that record – with MPs heading back to Parliament today, who knows what will happen in the next few hours – Johnson has still packed in plenty during just two months in Number 10. And although it includes some momentous actions and decisions, it doesn’t include a Brexit deal – and it’s probably not the kind of history the PM wants to make.
Here’s a quick recap:
July 24: Boris Johnson succeeds Theresa May to become the new Tory leader and PM. He was selected by 92,000 Conservative Party members.
July 29: Boris Johnson is booed as he enters Bute House, where he tries to usher Nicola Sturgeon into her own official residence before leaving via the back door to avoid protesters.
July 31: The National reveals that Boris Johnson refused to debate Nicola Sturgeon in a head-to-head offered by Channel 4.
August 19: Johnson is urged to recall Parliament from its summer recess over the “Brexit emergency” by more than 100 MPs.
August 25: It emerges that Johnson asked for legal advice on a five-week prorogation.
August 28: Prorogation is granted by the Queen amid a hail of protest. Protesters chant “Stop the Coup” outside the Houses of Parliament.
September 3: Tory rebels help deliver Johnson’s first Commons defeat on Brexit – in his first Commons vote as PM. Twenty-one MPs are purged from the party, including Philip Hammond, Ken Clarke and Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Johnson’s hero, Winston Churchill.
September 4: Johnson loses another two votes including a bid to hold a early General Election.
September 10: Parliament is suspended until October 14.
September 11: Scotland’s Court of Session rules that prorogation was unlawful in what has become known as the Cherry Case after SNP MP Joanna Cherry. Downing Street suggests Scottish judges were biased.
September 24: The UK Supreme Court – also considering a separate case brought by Gina Miller – agrees Johnson shut down Parliament illegally. The ruling is unanimous and speaker John Bercow orders MPs back to Westminster. Downing Street accuses the court of “serious failings” and seems to place blame on Attorney General Geoffrey Cox.
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