Mr Major, a fervent Europhile, promised to personally take Mr Johnson to court if he becomes Prime Minister and attempts to prorogue Parliament – end the parliamentary session in order to push through no deal. The arithmetic in the House of Commons currently means neither Theresa May’s deal, a second referendum or no deal could seemingly pass. Meanwhile, Mr Johnson has vowed to take the UK out of the EU by the October 31 deadline, with his clear “do or die” message.

Mr Major said on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme this morning: “You cannot and should not bypass Parliament in this fashion.

“I cannot imagine how anyone could conceivably think that is right.”

He added: “I for one would be prepared to seek judicial review to prevent Parliament from being bypassed.”

However, Mr Major was himself taken to court by William Rees-Mogg, father of European Research Group chair Jacob Rees-Mogg, over the EU.

When the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, which escalated European integration and founded the European Union as we know it today, was signed Eurosceptics went down fighting.

Lord Rees-Mogg even went to court to stop the treaty becoming law on the basis of it taking sovereignty away from Westminster.

However, the attempt ultimately failed with the judges siding with the Government.

Files released last year offered an insight into how Sir John and his aides we pleasantly surprised by the verdict.

Sir Roderic Lyne, then Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, wrote in a note: “The outcome was even better than our lawyers had expected.”

Mr Major added: “Good. A full gloat is merited.”

Meanwhile, his Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd, who personally signed the treaty, even faced treason charges for his actions.

British academic and political commentator Rodney Atkinson and co-founder of The Guinness Book of Records Norris McWhiter laid treason charges against Mr Hurd for signing the document.

They also accused the Financial Secretary to the Treasury Francis Maude of treason.

The claim was that these two politicians did not have full powers of the Government when they signed powers away to the EU and therefore breached their Oath of Office.

In their 1994 book ‘Treason at Maastricht’, they wrote: “We merely pointed out what the British constitution, common law and various statutes called treason.”

This case also failed, although Mr Atkinson claimed it planted a seed of discontent in the British-EU relationship.

Therefore, while Mr Major and those in his administration ultimately won their court battles, it is somewhat ironic that he is now the one threatening a lawsuit over the EU.

Rustom Tata, chairman of city law firm DMH Stallard, said: “The prorogation would be the absolute last resort.

“I think there would need to be a genuine and pressing sense of national emergency to justify such a drastic step.

“Of course, just as with the challenge to the Article 50 notification, the Courts would be criticised for ‘interfering’ in the Government’s discretion to request the closure of Parliament, which is settled convention.”

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