Reading through the commentary on the prorogation, I have never seen such a confused mishmash of opinion, even on matters Brexit. Various infuriated commentators have been talking about constitutional coups and the overturning of democracy and so on. Jacob Rees Mogg has been particularly bad in this regard, especially as the Supreme Court judgement implies that he came closer to carrying out a form of constitutional coup than anyone.
Anyone familiar with seventeenth century history will know that prorogation and long periods in which Parliament could not sit were a key part of the Stuarts' attempts to create a dictatorship. Charles I got rid of Parliament for eleven years of personal rule; Charles II used the same practice, as did Oliver Cromwell. The last I suspect is company that Mr Rees Mogg would be particularly unhappy to be in.
A knowledge of that history demonstrates that these powers have always been subject to a certain ebb and flow according to political circumstance, and one would have expected a traditional Conservative to be aware of these things.
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