Sunday 20 October 2019

Newspaper headlines-20 Oct 2019: Boris Johnson's Brexit letter makes headlines

Many papers adopt a scornful tone when reporting events in Parliament, where a special weekend sitting resulted in Boris Johnson's Brexit plan being frustrated by MPs.
  • 20 October 2019
"Super Saturday? Make that Superfluous Saturday," says Sunday Telegraph sketchwriter Michael Deacon. He argues the outcome represented "the entire Brexit process in microcosm".
"Hysterical build-up. Media frenzy. Promises to the public that this was the moment of truth. And then, at the last minute, MPs once again agree to put off the big decision for another day," he writes.
"The House of Fools", reads the Mail on Sunday's front-page headline, above photographs of four of the "posturing MPs" who it says "subjected us to yet more agonising delay". They are Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Sir Oliver Letwin who tabled the amendment to "withhold approval" for the prime minister's Brexit deal, Commons Speaker John Bercow and former Chancellor Philip Hammond.
"Why won't they let us leave?" asks the front page of the Sunday Express, which voices its "outrage" that Parliament voted "to obstruct Boris's breakthrough Brexit deal". Its editorial claims "we're in a new period of chaos", after the "House of Cowards" again showed it "prefers irresponsible procrastination to decisive action".

'Oliver Twits'

Sir Oliver LetwinImage copyrightREUTERS
Sir Oliver comes in for some of the most virulent criticism. The Mail quotes a senior Tory labelling Sir Oliver a "useful idiot" for the "organ grinder", Lord Pannick QC. It claims the lawyer - who also "masterminded" Boris Johnson's "Supreme Court humiliation" - helped draft Sir Oliver's "wrecking amendment".
"Oliver Twits," reads the Sun on Sunday's headline. The paper calls Mr Letwin A "buffoon" who came up with the poll tax, and has now "persuaded zombie MPs to block Brexit". The Sun also attacks the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, which backed the Letwin amendment, saying their "stubborn refusal to compromise is beyond all reason".
"We had the deal nailed down, and we blew it," laments Caroline Flint, one of the six Labour MPs who voted with the government. She writes in the Sunday Times how she'd "worked in good faith" to improve Mr Johnson's deal, with guarantees on workers' rights, environmental standards and animal welfare all secured and ready to be embodied into legislation.
The Independent website, on the other hand, pictures the scene outside The Commons, where campaigners for another referendum amassed in Parliament Square. It claims a million people joined the march for a "Final Say on Brexit", on what is says was "the day you made Johnson listen".
Likewise, the Observer pictures the massed demonstrators, next to a headline reading: "A million take to the streets for public vote. In a comment piece, Will Hutton writes: "We marched with hope but few expectations. Yet history will side with us."
The Sunday Times dismisses them as "A vast throng, too posh to putsh."