Extraordinary UK party conference season kicks off

SATURDAY saw the kick-off of what could be one of the most extraordinary UK Autumn Party Conference seasons in living memory. Although the annual conferences are not what they once were in terms of policy influence, they still serve a key democratic purpose, especially this year with a General Election and the 'endgame' of UK's exit of the EU potentially on the horizon.

And to give this year's party season extra spice, all of this is playing out in the backdrop of the government's release last week of official papers, under order of Parliament, showing the concerning implications of a potential no-deal exit from the EU. Plus also Boris Johnson's controversial suspension of Parliament until mid-October.

The latter is already causing the prime minister legal, let alone political, troubles, with three leading Scottish judges declaring last week his shutdown order to be unlawful and, further, that he misled the Queen and electorate by asserting this was for reasons other than preventing proper scrutiny of his Brexit strategy by legislators. This opens up the remarkable possibility, with the UK Supreme Court considering the issue this week, that the courts could force Mr Johnson to reopen Parliament.