Former UK PM Major joins legal action to block Johnson suspending parliament

Former British Prime Minister John Major has asked to join legal action to try to block current Prime Minister Boris Johnson from suspending parliament before Brexit.

Major, prime minister from 1990 to 1997, said he would join anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller is pursuing a judicial review of the order to close parliament from mid-September to mid-October. "In view of the imminence of the prorogation – and to avoid duplication of effort, and taking up the Court's time through repetition – I intend to seek the Court's permission to intervene in the claim already initiated by Gina Miller, rather than to commence separate proceedings," Major said.

"If granted permission to intervene, I intend to seek to assist the court from the perspective of having served in government as a minister and prime minister," he said in a statement.