Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the UK on notice that it faces the threat of an election within weeks, as the political crisis engulfing the country’s divorce from the European Union deepened.
Johnson’s allies are considering a snap poll as he battles enemies in Parliament trying to force him to delay Brexit by three months rather than allow him to take the UK out of the EU with no deal on October 31.
In a hastily arranged statement outside his Downing Street office on Monday evening, the premier said he did not want an election. But he signalled that an emergency poll could follow if he loses the fight with his opponents this week — as he will never agree to their plan.
‘I want everybody to know – there are no circumstances in which I will ask Brussels to delay,’ Johnson said in his statement to the television cameras. ‘Let’s let our negotiators get on with their work, without that sword of Damocles over their necks and without an election. I don’t want an election. You don’t want an election.’
Talk of another national vote highlights the make-or-break nature of this week for Johnson’s leadership and for the country as a whole. The political turmoil and uncertainty over Brexit has hit the pound in recent weeks, and sterling was down 0.8% on Monday.
Since he became prime minister in July, Johnson has made it his mission to prepare the UK to leave the EU by the October 31 deadline even if that means tumbling out of the 28-country bloc with no deal to cushion the blow to trade.
Here’s How Parliament Is Plotting to Stop a No-Deal Brexit
Many politicians inside his own Conservative Party are unwilling to go along with this plan, believing it will hit the economy, sparking a recession and a crash in the currency and house prices.
They have been trying to work out a way to stop the premier forcing through a no-deal Brexit.
Johnson’s opponents are now ready to act. They are drafting a new law to force the prime minister to delay Brexit by three months to the end of January 2020 if he fails to negotiate a new deal with the EU by the Halloween deadline. These opposition and rebel Tory politicians will try to rush their plan through Parliament on an emergency timetable this week.
For his part, Johnson stepped up his fightback on Monday. His aides threatened to fire any Conservative politicians who join the revolt against his policy and ban them from standing as Tories in future.
According to a person familiar with Johnson’s thinking, the premier will treat defeat as if the government has suffered a vote of no confidence in its abilities to negotiate Brexit. That is a signal that Johnson is considering throwing in the towel and calling an election if he loses this week’s crunch vote in the House of Commons.
The forces ranged against Johnson span all the major parties in Britain’s Parliament. They include senior Conservative politicians such as former Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, the official Labour opposition, and smaller opposition parties.
Johnson’s opponents are expected to try to take control over parliamentary business on Tuesday before debating their draft law forcing him to seek a Brexit delay on Wednesday. Under their draft law, Johnson will be forced to ask the EU for an extension to the Article 50 negotiating period until Jan. 31 if he has not secured a new deal — or won parliamentary backing for a no-deal split — by a deadline of Oct. 19.
Race against the clock
The chances of this plan making it into law will rest on a race against the clock. Johnson has announced he will suspend Parliament for a month from Sept. 12, in a move seen as an attempt to stop his opponents passing a bill to thwart his no-deal Brexit plans.
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn warned that this week’s votes in Parliament could be the last chance to prevent Johnson taking the U.K. out of the EU without an agreement. “We must come together to stop no deal,” Corbyn said. “This week could be our last chance. We are working with other parties to do everything necessary to pull our country back from the brink.”
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