Boris Johnson flies back to London for Brexit showdown
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants a snap election to get rid of the ‘zombie parliament’ holding the electorate ‘captive’ over the Brexit deal.
World
Don't miss out on the headlines from World. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Boris Johnson is considering bringing in a “one line bill” to change the law on how elections are called in the UK to get a snap poll to get rid of a “zombie” parliament intent on blocking Brexit.
The Prime Minister has shrugged off an embarrassing Supreme Court loss where he was found to have misled the Queen on the advice he gave her to suspend parliament.
In a blistering performance in the House of Commons early Thursday, Mr Johnson turned the tables on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn demanding he call an election.
He claimed that Labour, and opposition MPs including some of his former colleagues, wanted to stop Britain leaving the European Union at all.
“This parliament will keep delaying, will keep sabotaging negotiations because they don’t want a deal,” he said.
“The electorate are being held captive by this zombie parliament and this zombie opposition.
“And he (Corbyn) wants the entire country to be held captive in the EU after October 31 at a cost of more than £1 billion a month.
“We say no, I say no! Let’s get Brexit done and let’s take this country forward.”
Conservative MPs clapped Mr Johnson after his speech, one of his highlights since coming into the job after losing six consecutive votes in the House of Commons since he was appointed.
Downing Street challenged Labour and opposition parties to call an election, saying that if they did not Mr Johnson would take it as an endorsement of his plans to deliver Brexit on October 31 without a deal.
A no-deal Brexit would cause medicine and food shortages in the UK and hurt European economies as well, particularly Ireland.
Mr Johnson’s team, including those behind the disastrous suspension of parliament, were planning to get creative again to force an election.
The Fixed Term Parliaments Act requires two thirds of MPs to vote to call an election, which is usually every five years.
But scrapping the law with a “one line bill” would mean Mr Johnson only needs half of the votes in the house, which he might have the numbers to win.
Mr Johnson has lost his majority in parliament after he sacked 21 MPs for voting against a no-deal Brexit.
However, Mr Johnson is leading by as much as 15 points in the published polls, as Labour voters defect to the Liberal Democrats because of concerns about Mr Corbyn’s hard left wing policies and dithering on Brexit.
He claimed that the events in parliament had made it more difficult to negotiate a deal with the EU, which he will have to secure before a summit on October 17 to avoid being forced to ask for more time under a new emergency law.
Mr Corbyn said Mr Johnson’s statement was “10 minutes of bluster from a dangerous Prime Minister who thinks he is above the law”.
He added: “In truth, he is not fit for the office that he holds.”
Mr Corbyn, who refused to call an election until a no-deal Brexit was off the table, said the Government was “failing the people of Britain and the people of Britain know it”.
stephen.drill@news.co.uk
‘Stand aside or have a vote’
Boris Johnson is daring Labour to call an election and refusing to apologise after an unprecedented UK Supreme Court ruling found he misled the Queen.
Parliament has been returned as a result of the court ruling that found it was unlawful to prorogue, or suspend, the House of Commons for five weeks.
Mr Johnson called on the smaller parties to call a vote of no confidence in him — which could spark the election he desperately wants.
Traditionally only the Leader of the Opposition can do that, but Mr Johnson has now thrown down the gauntlet to the SNP and Lib Dems too.
“If the party opposite does not have confidence in the Government, they will have a chance to prove it,” he said. “This parliament must either stand aside … or bring a vote of confidence and finally face a day of reckoning with the voters.
“Will they have the courage to act or will they refuse to take responsibility yet again and do nothing but delay?” he said. “Why would they not? What are they scared of?”
Senior minister Michael Gove suggested there will be no apology forthcoming for Mr Johnson suspending parliament.
“We respect the judgment of the Supreme Court and will comply with that judgment,” he told the BBC.
“It is absolutely right that the Supreme Court should take a view on a matter of this kind. It was done in the proper way.”
The parliament is due to receive an update on plans for a no-deal Brexit, which Mr Johnson has promised if he cannot get a deal by October 31.
However, the European Parliament’s top Brexit official had some more bad news for Mr Johnson, saying the British government’s proposals on how to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland do not meet the conditions necessary to force a breakthrough in the stalled negotiations.
Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt told an EU parliamentary committee that the alternatives offered were “not meeting” the benchmarks the EU has set out for an orderly British exit. Mr Johnson has insisted that the Irish border provision negotiated by his predecessor, Theresa May, is scrapped.
He also said the EU would be willing to grant an extension to Britain’s October 31 Brexit date if London provided enough arguments to merit such a move.
The British Prime Minister flew back from the United Nations General Assembly in New York to deal with the fallout of the court decision.
The crisis cut short Brexit talks with European leaders on the sidelines of the UN meeting, as
Mr Johnson now faces a battle to get a deal across the line that is acceptable to parliament and Europe before a summit on October 17.
Mr Johnson said he would stick to his plans to deliver Brexit, despite the landmark court blow over the advice he gave the Queen to prorogue, or suspend, parliament.
“We in the UK will not be deterred from delivering the will of the British people. I strongly disagree with this decision of the Supreme Court,” Mr Johnson said.
When asked if he would quit, he said: “No, no, no.”
“We respect the judiciary in our country, we respect the court,” Mr Johnson added.
“I disagree profoundly with what they had to say. I think it was entirely right to go ahead with a plan for a Queen’s Speech.
“Frankly we need to get on with Brexit … (voters) want to get this thing done by October 31 and that’s what we’re going to do.”
US President Donald Trump backed Mr Johnson when asked in New York about calls for the UK leader to resign after the court ruling.
Mr Trump said his reaction to the judgment was to tell the PM “it’s just another day in the office” as they met at the United Nations.
“I’ll tell you, I know him well, he’s not going anywhere,” the US President said.
MORE NEWS
Boris faces ultimate survival test
Aussie classic gives Boris a boost
Brexit blows Johnson’s moment on the world stage
Mr Johnson had a private call with the Queen following the court decision before he continued on with his agenda and delivered a speech at the UN.
He made a reference to the Greek myth of Prometheus during his final speech about how Titan’s liver was pecked out by an eagle.
“And this went on forever. A bit like the experience of Brexit in the UK, if some of our parliamentarians had their way,” he said to laughter from the audience.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson pleaded with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani for the release of British-Australians Dr Kylie Gilbert-Moore and Jolie King who are locked up in Tehran’s Evin prison.
Mr Johnson invited Mr Rouhani to London “where we can discuss things more” after meeting him at the UN.
“But there are other issues also I wish to raise with you and we retain serious concerns about the detention of dual nationals in Tehran and we are looking forward to make progress on that,” he said.
Mr Johnson does not have a majority in the House of Commons after sacking 21 MPs for voting against him and had another two quit on him.
But Labour was expected to again refuse to use its numbers to seek a general election until after the October 31 Brexit deadline.
They want to block Mr Johnson from crashing out of the EU without a deal, which has been his major leverage in negotiations.
Parliament is set to resume tonight Australian time, with outgoing speaker John Bercow calling MPs back to Westminster.
The Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, sat with a panel of 11 judges for only the second time in its history.
It found in a unanimous decision that Mr Johnson had misled the Queen when he asked her to suspend parliament for five weeks instead of the usual four or five days.
Supreme Court president Lady Brenda Hale said in her judgment that the suspension of parliament was not legal because its length meant it stifled debate on Brexit.
“The Court is bound to conclude, therefore, that the decision to advise Her Majesty to prorogue parliament was unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of parliament to carry out its constitutional functions without reasonable justification,” she said.
Mr Johnson had argued he needed a Queen’s speech, which is the traditional opening of a parliamentary session where the Monarch lays out the Prime Minister’s agenda.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who survived a move to oust him at his party’s conference in Brighton this week, said he would seek an election after October 31 to avoid a no-deal Brexit.
“The Prime Minister acted illegally when he tried to shut down opposition to his reckless and disastrous plan to crash out of the European Union without a deal. But he has failed,” he said.
“This unelected Prime Minister should now resign.”
Labour said it would seek the documents Mr Johnson relied on for advice on the suspension of parliament, rather than an immediate no-confidence vote that could spark an election.
“We want to hear what legal advice he was acting on, why he ended up in court and being ruled in this quite extraordinary way,” opposition cabinet office minister Jon Trickett said.
“As the debate goes on and we hear the answers, clearly we will be wondering and making decisions on how to proceed next.”
stephen.drill@news.co.uk
Originally published as Boris Johnson flies back to London for Brexit showdown