Boris Johnson’s bid for early UK election rejected

Late in the night, the House of Lords filibuster has ended.

So, there we have it. Boris Johnson has lost three key parliamentary votes in less than 24 hours. It’s worth mentioning these three votes were the first votes he faced in Parliament since becoming Prime Minister.

Here is the tally:

British politics doesn’t follow the three-strikes law. But the defeats are painful – especially since Johnson has also lost his working majority in Parliament after sacking the rebels who voted against him.

Elsewhere, peers in the House of Lords are settling in for a very long night of voting on amendments to the Brexit delay bill. They have tabled 86 amendments, a move the opposition branded a filibuster.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the Labour Party’s position of resisting his call for a snap election “is not politically sustainable.”

Speaking to ITN’s Robert Peston, the Prime Minister said Labour’s position was “to be so consumed by cowardice as to resist a general election.”

In the interview, Johnson also said he took “no joy” in sacking the Conservative members of parliament who rebelled against his government.

Members of the House of Lords, known as Peers, are getting ready for a very, very long debate.

They will be considering the bill blocking no-deal Brexit which was passed earlier Wednesday by the House of Commons.

The upper chamber of Parliament doesn’t have the power to reject the bill. The Lords can either decide to approve a bill or send it back to the Commons with amendments.

A third option, albeit temporary, is trying to delay the proceedings. And it looks like that’s exactly what some Peers are going for. They have tabled 86 amendments to the bill, a move that the opposition branded a filibuster.

Dick Newby, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, said he was prepared for a long one – arriving to the debate with a duvet, change of clothes and shaving kit no less.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he would be happy to support an early election – but not just yet.

In a tweet posted after the government’s defeat in Parliament, Corbyn said the vote can go ahead after no-deal Brexit “is off the table, once and for all.”

Corbyn has been calling for an early vote for months, which begs the question why, when presented with an opportunity to have one, he decided against it.

The simple answer: agreeing to the election on Wednesday would mean following Boris Johnson’s plan.

That’s not something Corbyn was willing to do.

He said he believed that agreeing to the election could have jeopardised the bill stopping no-deal Brexit which the House of Commons passed earlier on Wednesday.

The bill still needs to go through the House of Lords. And while the Lords don’t have the power to reject the bill, they can attempt to delay the proceedings.

Timing is crucial, because Parliament is scheduled to be suspended for five weeks starting next week.

If the bill doesn’t make it through the Lords before the recess, it won’t become a law until after Parliament comes back. Throwing in an election at that time wasn’t something Corbyn was prepared to allow.

European Union leaders have been watching the drama in Westminster – and appear to be as confused as anyone about what is going to happen next.

One EU diplomat told CNN the consensus in Brussels is “we don’t really know where the show is going to go, and what the script is, and what the finale is.”

The diplomat added:

The diplomat said Brussels is aware that the EU is being used as a “backdrop to election campaign” and added that it was pointless talking to Johnson because he currently cannot deliver a deal:

Boris Johnson’s government was defeated in its attempt to call an early election.

The government secured more votes – 298 compared to the opposition’s 56 – but that was not enough to push the motion through.

To succeed, Johnson needed at least 434 MPs to vote in favour of the proposed.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan for a snap election is on hold – at least for now.

The Prime Minister suffered a third major blow in less than 24 hours when lawmakers rejected his motion to dissolve Parliament and call an early election.

Fifty-six lawmakers voted against the motion but with only 298 votes in favour, it failed to reach the required majority of two thirds.

Since becoming Prime Minister in July, Johnson has repeatedly said he didn’t want an early election.

He changed his tune after losing a key battle on Tuesday, when Parliament voted to seize the parliamentary agenda in order to push through a bill outlawing a no-deal Brexit.

That bill was debated and voted through earlier on Wednesday. Johnson said that taking the no deal option off the table means his negotiating position in Brussels would be weakened.

After a short debate, MPs are voting in the House of Commons on a motion tabled by the Government to hold a snap UK election on October 15. Results are expected shortly.

Labour Party MP Jess Phillips has delivered a long speech in the House of Commons criticising Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s call for an early election.

She said she will oppose the motion, because she believes the country is facing a national crisis.

“We are currently in a national crisis, this is not a game … the British public, they think we should be in here doing our jobs,” Phillips said.

If you’re wondering why Phillips mentioned “Brenda from Bristol”, it’s a reference to a deep frustration with politics famously expressed by one voter in a 2017 BBC interview.

Asked by a BBC reporter what she thought about the fact that the then-Prime Minister Theresa May called for an early election, the respondent, identified only as Brenda from Bristol, replied: “You’re joking, not another one?”

Her bewilderment appeared to encapsulate the mood of a large part of the public, and she became an internet sensation.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for an early election on Tuesday, October 15. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean British voters will head to the polls any time soon.

That’s because the way British elections are called changed radically in 2011 when the Fixed-term Parliaments Act came into effect.

Until then, it was pretty much up to the prime minister of the day to decide when he or she wanted to hold a vote.

After 2011, that power shifted to Parliament. In order for an early election to happen, it has to be approved by a majority of two-thirds.

Given the current parliamentary arithmetic, Johnson is almost certainly not going to be able to push the motion for an election through.

Conservative Party MP Kenneth Clarke has rebuffed Prime Minister Boris Johnson, calling him “disingenuous.”

Clarke, a former chancellor, is the current “Father of the House,” an unofficial title given to the longest serving member of the Commons.

After failing to defeat a bill blocking no-deal Brexit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for an early election on Tuesday, October 15.

Watch the moment he announces it:

After a short address from the Prime Minister, lawmakers in the House of Commons are debating whether or not to hold a snap general election on Tuesday, October 15.

Outside Parliament on Wednesday evening, James Mann, a 24-year-old accountant, said that while he voted to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum, he accepted Brexit would happen. But he said he can’t accept no deal – which is why he has come to the protest outside Parliament.

Commenting on Prime Minister Boris Johnson, he said:

Dirk Lampe, a 53-year-old community worker has even harsher opinion. “Boris is an idiot,” he said.

“After the referendum I assumed there’d be a soft Brexit but they pursued a harder and harder Brexit and now Boris has taken it to a huge level with no authority, no mandate,” Lampe said. He came to the protest with his family.

Nicki Oakes-Monger a 58-year-old teacher said Johnson’s decision to prorogue Parliament was a “turning point and a clear escalation.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tells lawmakers in the House of Commons that the Government can’t function when Parliament is passing laws “that destroy the ability of government to negotiate.”

Therefore, he says, a new election is necessary, calling for a vote on Tuesday, October 15.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is not happy with the result in the House of Commons where lawmakers have just backed delaying Brexit.

Addressing Parliament straight after his defeat, he said the bill “hands over control” to the European Union.

Following its approval by the House of Commons, the bill blocking no-deal Brexit is now going to the House of Lords.

The unelected upper chamber of the UK Parliament has limited powers. It can either pass the bill as it is, or send it back to the Commons with amendments.

While the Lords can’t reject the bill, they can attempt to delay the process. It seems like that is likely: the House of Lords has tabled 86 amendments to the bill even ahead of the Commons vote on Wednesday.

Timing is crucial because Parliament is set to be suspended for five weeks starting next week.

British lawmakers have passed a bill aimed at preventing a no-deal Brexit, in another blow to Prime Minster Boris Johnson.

It cleared the House of Commons by 327 votes to 299.

It now goes to the House of Lords where it will likely face extensive delaying tactics.

Conservative peers, who do not have a majority in the upper house, want to prevent the motion being passed in Wednesday’s session. If they succeed, that could prevent it becoming law before Johnson suspends Parliament early next week.

Here’s a surprise. One of the amendments to the bill seeking to block no-deal Brexit has passed through the House of Commons – possibly by accident.

The vote on the amendment was cancelled, because no tellers were available. Tellers are the four MPs who are appointed to verify the count of the votes. Two represent those voting for the debated bill and the other two are there for those voting against.

According to news agency PA, no tellers for the “noes” were put forward. It is unclear whether this was deliberate or an accident.

As for the accidental amendment, it is Labour MP Stephen Kinnock’s amendment, which was put forward by a small group of Labour lawmakers.

It seeks to bring the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated by former Prime Minister Theresa May back for another vote in the House of Commons. The deal has previously been rejected by lawmakers three times.

An online petition calling on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to cancel plans to suspend Parliament will be debated on Monday, according to news agency PA. 

The official petition was posted on the UK Government and Parliament Petitions page shortly after last week’s suspension announcement.

The petition has more than 1.7 million signatures.

British lawmakers are voting on a bill that would block Prime Minister Boris Johnson from taking the country out of the European Union without a deal on October 31.

The protests outside Parliament have attracted people of all ages.

Chris, pictured below right, is a 58-year-old retired teacher who has strong beliefs about the importance of Parliament.

“Ordinary people have only got three things from stopping the full force of the state – civil institutions, a free press and parliament,” he said.

 “All three are precious and we need them – many countries in the world are run by dictators and we are being complacent – we must defend our rights.”

Standing next to him is Margaret, a 70-year-old retired TV producer, who said she was at the protest because she felt that when women won their right to vote, they did so to participate in the parliamentary process.

“That only a hundred years later we have a PM who wants to prorogue [suspend] Parliament and prevent debate about such an important issue … come on women, we have got to go there and show that we really mind about this,” she said.

US President Donald Trump had some well wishes for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, amid the high-stakes political battle over Brexit.

“Boris is a friend of mine and he’s – he’s going at it there’s no question about it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a briefing on Hurricane Dorian. “He’s in there fighting.”

Trump continued, saying Johnson “knows how to win.”

“Don’t worry about him. He’s going to be okay,” Trump added, noting that the UK has “a very big stake in the Bahamas,” which has been heavily hit by the storm.

The Bahamas is part of the Commonwealth of Nations but it gained its independence from Britain in the 1970s.

Debate has ended and British lawmakers are voting on amendments to a bill that would block Prime Minister Boris Johnson from taking the country out of the European Union without a deal on October 31.

Here is what’s going on:

MPs are voting by joining one of the two division lobbies adjacent to the main chamber.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson dubbed Jeremy Corbyn “frit and chicken” over the opposition leader’s refusal to support the government’s call for a snap election.

The word “frit” which means frightened was famously used by former prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1983.

Johnson addressed a group of backbench Members of Parliament, known as the 1922 Committee Wednesday, and later told reporters: “I also made it clear that I thought that if Jeremy Corbyn was going to effectively hand over the prerogative of the British to decide how long this country can remain in the EU to the EU, then that was a question that really should be adjudicated by the British people themselves.

“I’m surprised that he seems to be frit and chicken.”

Corbyn has said he would only agree to an election after a law is passed removing the risk of a no-deal Brexit.

Activists from both sides of the Brexit debate have been gathering in front of Parliament for months. But as lawmakers debate a key bill to stop a no-deal Brexit on Wednesday, some of those protesting have dressed for the occasion.

The bananas sticking out of the protester dressed up as Boris Johnson are presumably a reference to the Prime Minister’s former career as a Brussels correspondent.

He was famous for writing sensational stories about European regulations – such as the one suggesting the bloc was trying to ban bendy bananas, a Euromyth the EU has repeatedly debunked.

Another protestor used the occasion to dress up as Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg. The arch-Brexiteer has been dubbed the “MP for the 18th century” because of his eccentric personality and adoration for traditions.

Conservative MP Caroline Spelman has joined the rebellion, voting against her own party in the first stage of the vote on a bill that is seeking to block a no-deal Brexit.

She joined 21 other MPs who voted against Johnson while members of the Conservative Party on Tuesday night and again on Wednesday. The 21 have been sacked for their decision to go against Johnson. It is unclear whether Spelman will face the same fate.

Another Conservative MP, Philip Lee, defected to the Liberal Democrats on Tusday.

In case you were wondering, getting a bill through the UK Parliament is not a simple process.

Lawmakers have just given preliminary approval to the bill that requires the government to seek an extension to article 50 if it does not have a deal for the UK’s exit from the European Union. 

The bill will now move on to the committee stage, where MPs can debate amendments. MPs will then vote on any amendments selected by the Speaker John Bercow. After that, at around 7 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET), there will be a vote on the bill as a whole.

The bill will then move on to the report stage, which gives MPs the chance to further debate the bill, and add more amendments.

MPs will then vote on the third and final reading of the bill, the last chance the House of Commons will get to discuss it – unless the House of Lords decides to amend the bill and send it back to the House of Commons.

The Bank of England (BoE) has delivered a rare piece of “good” news on a no-deal Brexit.

It said the damage to Britain’s economy in a worst-case no-deal Brexit scenario would be smaller than it previously expected, thanks to preparations put in place over the last year.

That said, the picture is still bleak. The bank said GDP would shrink by 5.5% in the worst-case scenario, which is less than the 8% slump it expected last year, but still devastating for jobs, businesses and livelihoods.

The bank said unemployment would jump to 7% and inflation would rise to 5.5%.

In a letter to lawmakers, BoE Governor Mark Carney stressed the bank’s scenarios are just that – scenarios of what could happen rather than forecasts of the most likely outcome.

The bill that seeks to block Boris Johnson from taking the United Kingdom out of the European Union without a deal has passed the first stage of the approval process in Parliament. (Confusingly, this is known as “second reading”.)

Lawmakers supported the bill by 329 votes to 300.

The bill now passes into what’s called the committee stage, where amendments can be introduced. The second, more important vote is expected after 7 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET).

The result means that the Prime Minister has lost the support of another MP since the vote last night, when it secured 301 votes.

The Labour Party will not support the government’s call for a snap election if the bill barring a no-deal Brexit is passed by Parliament, shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer told lawmakers.

“We will not be voting with the government tonight and we will keep our focus with the task at hand which is to ensure that we do not leave the EU without a deal,” Starmer said.

Labour is the largest opposition party in the UK. And while its leader Jeremy Corbyn has repeatedly called for an election in the past few months, he said he would only agree to one after a law is passed removing the risk of a no-deal Brexit.

Philip Hammond, one of the rebels voting against the government on Tuesday night, said that Johnson’s demands are impossible for the European Union to accept.

“By setting the bar as he [Johnson] has, at the total removal of the backstop, he has set the bar at a level which is impossible for the European Union to comply with,” Hammond said.

The former Chancellor of the Exchequer, or finance minister, has always been adamant that leaving the European Union without a deal would be disastrous for the British economy – and said that was the reason he rebelled against the Prime Minister.

Hammond was the Treasury chief just six weeks ago. After voting against the government last night, he lost the Conservative Party whip in the Commons and will be barred from running as a Conservative in any future election.

Speaking on Wednesday, he rejected the idea that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn should be prime minister. “I would sooner boil my head than hand power to the leader of the opposition.”

The city of Norwich was an outlier in the county of Norfolk in the Brexit referendum, being the only district to vote to remain in the European Union.

Glynis Williams is originally from Wales and says she supports the Welsh Plaid Cymru Party in its campaign to revoke Article 50, before holding a second referendum. 

But if there is an early election, Williams isn’t entirely whom she would vote for. The only thing she is certain about: it would be a remain party.

She hopes parties supporting the idea to remain in the EU will work together to fend off the danger from the Brexit Party.

“I hope that’s what we see in a lot of constituencies,” she says, “Remain parties forming alliances and not standing against each other.”

Shop owner Mike Pearson doesn’t believe anybody could trust the current government led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“These people will do whatever it takes to get power and then stay in power,” he said.

Pearson voted for Labour in the last election, and is worried that was construed wrongly for a vote for Brexit.

If a general election is held in the coming weeks, he’ll be voting for the Liberal Democrats – a switch many others are thinking about making in the city.

Rebel MP Philip Hammond, who voted against Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government last night, was one of 21 Conservative lawmakers to be suspended from his party.

That means “he is no longer Conservative MP and will not be eligible to stand as the Conservative candidate for Runnymede and Weybridge,” his local constituency party said in a statement on Facebook.

Hammond served as Chancellor of the Exchequer – the UK’s chief finance minister – under Theresa May’s government.

“A new Conservative candidate will be selected by the membership in due course,” Runnymede and Weybridge Conservatives, added in the statement.

Hammond told BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Tuesday that if he was barred from standing as a Conservative at the next election, he would begin legal action to reverse the decision.

“This is my party. I have been a member of this party for 45 years,” Hammond said on Tuesday. “I am going to defend my party against incomers, entryists, who are trying to turn it from a broad church into a narrow faction.”

The so-called “rebel alliance” of opposition and former Conservative MPs, who last night won the right to control the business in the House of Commons today, are about to begin their debate. They intend to rush through a bill that would outlaw a no-deal Brexit by the end of the day.

John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, is dealing with procedural matters first. He has just dismissed a point of order from a veteran Conservative lawmaker that the Queen must give permission for this debate to take place.

The question of whether there will be an election is emerging as one of the key issues of the day.

Last night, Prime Minister Boris Johnson put down a motion under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act (FTPA) – the relatively new legislation that governs the timing of general elections in the UK – calling for a vote in mid-October.

Under the FTPA, such a motion needs a supermajority – two thirds of the House of Commons. In practice, that means the opposition Labour party, the second-biggest bloc of lawmakers in the Commons, must support it.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has spent the last few months demanding an election. So it would seem obvious that Labour would support one now, right?

Not necessarily. If an election were called now, parliament would immediately be dissolved, and Labour’s efforts to prevent a no-deal Brexit would dissolve with it.

That’s why Corbyn has said that his party won’t support a new election until the bill to block a no-deal Brexit – the reason for the”rebel alliance” effort to take control of business in the House of Commons this afternoon – becomes law. That won’t happen until at least Friday and possibly Monday.

Johnson, having destroyed his parliamentary majority by firing 21 lawmakers who voted with the rebel alliance last night, must now wait a few more days to find out if his gamble has paid off. After all, an election is the only route to replacing the MPs he fired.

In the meantime, things could change very quickly. It’s entirely possible that Corbyn could see a path to power that doesn’t involve an election. The opposition leader could simply call a vote of no-confidence in Johnson, judging that disgruntled former Conservative MPs would have nothing to lose by joining him.

Then, Corbyn would have 14 days to assemble his own majority in Parliament, and seize the keys of Downing Street directly from Johnson’s hands. That would be an audacious move – but entirely constitutional. In these febrile times, don’t rule anything out.

The pound is getting whipsawed by political turmoil in Britain.

The currency jumped as much as 1% against the dollar on Wednesday, rising back above $1.22 after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a parliamentary revolt aimed at preventing Britain from crashing out of the European Union without a deal to protect the economy.

Those gains reverse steep declines from earlier this week, when the pound fell to its lowest level since a surprise flash crash in October 2016.

On the radar: Investors are now looking toward the prospect of an election.

Some investors worry that an election would only amp up the chaos. The outcome could embolden Johnson to pursue his hardline approach to Brexit. Or, it could elevate Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose leftist policies could hit asset prices, the thinking goes.

But Deutsche Bank strategist Oliver Harvey disagrees. He says an election is the “least worst of all scenarios this week” and believes it would reduce the prospect of no deal Brexit. Harvey says he’d upgrade his view on sterling to neutral if an October election is called.

Key takeaway: Labour policies would be temporary, reversible and most likely moderated by Parliament, as opposed to the “permanent shock caused by a no deal Brexit,” per Harvey.

Prime Minister’s Questions is famously the toughest hour of the week for any British leader, and the small number of living politicians who have been through it say it pays to do your homework. Boris Johnson’s first outing in the weekly PMQs bearpit was a hard reminder of that lesson.

The Prime Minister was assailed from all sides – including from people who until last night were members of his own parliamentary party. Johnson looked ill prepared and evasive, relying on stock phrases and off-the-cuff jokes to get him through.

It wasn’t enough.

The opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn began the assault with a series of focused questions about the impact of a no-deal Brexit that had Johnson rattled. Corbyn was not typically a strong performer at PMQs against Theresa May but Johnson’s blustering replies made the opposition leader appear the more statesmanlike of the pair.

Then, Johnson was subjected to some forensic interrogation from two former senior ministers in May’s government – David Gauke and Dominic Grieve, both of them lawyers – who asked some pointed questions about a court case in Scotland connected with his decision to suspend parliament for five weeks from next week.

Gauke and Grieve, it should be noted, are among 21 Conservatives to have been suspended from the parliamentary Conservative party on Tuesday night after voting with opposition lawmakers who want to legislate against a no-deal Brexit. Johnson sidestepped their questions.

Next up, another suspended Conservative, former digital minister Margot James, skewered Johnson over the conduct of his shadowy chief adviser, Dominic Cummings. She reminded Johnson of a famous quote by Margaret Thatcher, who once found herself criticized over the role of an aide. “Advisers advise, ministers decide,” Thatcher said. James suggested that Johnson would do well to heed that advice.

But the most electrifying moment came when a Labour MP, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, who is Sikh, laid into Johnson over controversial comments in a newspaper article when he compared Muslim women who wore face veils to bank robbers “letter boxes.”

His peroration was greeted with applause from the opposition benches – highly unusual in the House of Commons. Speaker John Bercow notably did not intervene to prevent the clapping.

At the end of the session, Johnson headed for the exit, perhaps eager to put the ordeal behind him – only to be reminded that his finance minister was about to make an important budget statement and perhaps he ought to stick around to hear it. It was an embarrassing end to a torrid hour.

Here’s a recap of how lawmakers voted on Tuesday night to take control of Parliament’s agenda today, which is expected to kick off at around 3 p.m. BST (10 a.m. ET).

In total, 21 Conservative MPs defied Prime Minister Boris Johnson and voted to support the motion.

Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi demanded that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologize for his previous “derogatory and racist remarks” such as saying that women who wear Islamic face veils look like “bank robbers” and “letterboxes.”

Dhesi, who also asked Johnson when he would order an inquiry into Islamophobia in the Conservative party, in a passionate speech, received a round of applause from Labour MPs after his question to Johnson.

In response, Johnson did not apologize but said he was proud to have “the most diverse Cabinet in the history of this country” and that the Conservatives “truly reflect modern Britain.”

You can watch Dhesi’s impassioned question, here:

According to Britain’s Press Association (PA) news agency, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared to appeal to Jeremy Corbyn to “call an election, you great big girl’s blouse,” when the opposition Labour leader claimed Johnson was “absolutely desperate to avoid scrutiny.”

We’ll let you be the judge…

“We don’t want a no-deal scenario,” UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told lawmakers in Parliament, adding that “the way to avoid it is to not vote for the absurd surrender bill.”

Johnson, who could be forced to request an extension from the EU if the bill passes on Wednesday night, asked lawmakers to allow the government to instead “get on and negotiate a deal.”

The Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said during PMQs “this Prime Minister is robbing the people of power” over Brexit.

“Are you a dictator or are you a democrat?” he asked Boris Johnson.

UK PM Boris Johnson said he is making “substantial process” in negotiating a Brexit deal with the EU, but added that it should not be done in public.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called the negotiations a “sham,” adding that Johnson is simply “running down the clock.”

Corbyn argued that the bill, which lawmakers will try to pass on Wednesday night, is trying to prevent a no-deal Brexit and cannot be “undermining negotiations because no negotiations are taking place.”

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has told lawmakers that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is hiding the government’s emergency plan for a no-deal Brexit, known as Yellowhammer.

When asked what will happen to food and medical supplies if the UK crashes out of the EU on October 31, Johnson accused Corbyn of “shameless scaremongering.”

But Corbyn said “we are less than 60 days away from leaving the EU without a deal” and Johnson is “desperate, absolutely desperate to avoid scrutiny.”

“He has no plan to get a new deal, no plan, no authority and no majority,” Corbyn added.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told lawmakers in the House of Commons on Wednesday that “there is only one thing that stands in our way [of Brexit] – it is the surrender bill.”

Johnson confirmed that if the bill – which is trying to stop a no-deal Brexit – is passed, he will call a general election for October 15 and “will allow the people of this country to have their view.”

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has returned to Parliament for Prime Minister’s Questions after suffering a humiliating defeat on Tuesday night in his first House of Common’s vote.

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, has tweeted that former Prime Minister Winston Churchill would “surely be stunned about the state of today’s Conservative party.”

“Sir Winston Churchill was a founding father of the European Union, convinced that only a united Europe could guarantee peace,” Verhofstadt said.

His comments came after Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Britain’s revered wartime leader, was one of 21 Conservative MPs who lost their job on Tuesday night after defying the government in an attempt to block a no-deal Brexit.

Rebel MP Richard Benyon who defied UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday night, told CNN he voted against the government because he does not want a Brexit that will “cause real harm to people.”

“I want us to leave the EU,” he added. “I was a Remainer, but I’m a democrat and I think it’s right for this country.”

Benyon added that Johnson’s divisive – and most senior adviser – Dominic Cummings, was “largely responsible for the rebellion.”

“Some of the comments he made to some people tipped the balance,” Benyon said, adding that he was “quite amazed at how some senior members of the party were treated” when they were fired.

You can read more about Cummings who’s considered the real brains behind Johnson’s Brexit plan in a profile by CNN’s Luke McGee here:

Related article Meet the real brains behind Boris Johnson's Brexit plan

Scottish National Party (SNP) lawmaker Joanna Cherry, who was behind the legal challenge in Scotland, has tweeted that an appeal will be launched against Wednesday’s judgment which found Boris Johnson’s planned suspension of Parliament lawful.

“We think he’s erred in law on this point & others & will seek to appeal immediately,” Cherry wrote.

Liberal Democrats’ leader in the House of Lords has tweeted a picture of himself arriving at the upper house of Parliament with a duvet, change of clothes and shaving kit as he prepares for what could turn into an all-night sitting.

“Could take us a while to see off 86 wrecking amendments on timetable motion today/tomorrow,” Newby tweeted.

If the bill is passed by the House of Commons to block a no-deal Brexit on Wednesday night, it will have to move through the House of Lords in order to become law.

More than 100,000 people have registered to vote in the past 48 hours, according to the Press Association (PA).

Government figures show that 52,408 people submitted applications on Monday and 64,485 on Tuesday, PA reported – which is well above the usual amount of applications per day.

According to PA, 58% of the applications were from people under 34 years old.

While the Brexit drama continues to unfold in the UK, the European Union is in wait-and-see mode – a place they’ve been time and time again while waiting for Westminster to make a decision.

On Wednesday morning the European Commission said it would intensify its no-deal planning. This would explore a further package of assistance measures for member states affected by a no-deal Brexit, which includes the possibility of releasing emergency funds that are normally reserved for volcanoes, earthquakes and floods.

Then, at around 2 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET), a British delegation will meet in Brussels for “technical talks.”

A UK official told CNN that the team intends to “run through a range of issues including the removal of the backstop” and that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson “has been clear that there will be no deal unless the Withdrawal Agreement is reopened and the backstop [is] taken out.”

However, the official also conceded that the UK and EU “remain some distance apart on key issues,” but added that both are “willing to work hard to find a way through.”

Judge Raymond Doherty ruled on Wednesday that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s controversial decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks was legal and that there had been “no contravention in the rule of law.”

Doherty, of Scotland’s highest court, said he was refusing a petition filed by various parties to stop Johnson suspending Parliament next week because “Parliament has exclusive control of its own affairs” and “it is for Parliament to decide when it will sit.”

He added that “Parliament can sit before and after the prorogation.”

The legal challenge in Scotland was the first of three taking place against Johnson’s plans.

The Court of Session in Edinburgh, Scotland’s highest court, has ruled that the Prime Minister’s planned suspension of Parliament for more than a month is lawful, and that it is not a matter for the courts.

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Jo Swinson, has told BBC’s Radio 4 Today program that she’s “very hopeful” there will be more defections.

“There is certainly many MPs who have for some time been very unhappy – whether that’s been in the Conservative Party or indeed the Labour Party,” Swinson said.

She added that the Lib Dems could “rally people to stop the chaos that is Brexit” and “fight for a much better future for our country that people do not see under Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn.”

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has urged Boris Johnson to back an amendment to his motion for early elections, which could pave the way for a new vote, but only if the government accepts Parliament’s bill to block no-deal Brexit first.

“If he has any respect for democracy, Johnson will support this amendment,” Sturgeon tweeted. “Agree to abide by will of Parliament on the Bill blocking ‘no deal’ and then submit to the verdict of the people in a General Election.”

Labour will not support Boris Johnson’s motion for an early election until a no-deal Brexit is ruled out, Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer told the BBC Wednesday morning.

“We want a general election and we want to prevent a no-deal Brexit,” Starmer said.

Rory Stewart, who just a few weeks ago ran for the leadership of his Conservative Party, was one of the rebel MPs who defied the government’s threat to withdraw the whip last night.

This morning, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that he found out that he had been thrown out of the party via text.

“It came by text,” Stewart said. “It was a pretty astonishing moment. Only a few weeks ago I was running for the leadership of the conservative party against Boris Johnson and I was in the cabinet.”

Stewart added that British democracy was being “challenged” and that delivering a no-Brexit “is a poison pill that for 40 years will divide this country straight down the middle.”

According to the former cabinet minister, “at least 30 or 40” Conservative lawmakers agreed with rebel MPs, but didn’t vote against the government, partly because of Johnson’s threats.

“It’s not just that they’re being threatened with losing their incomes and jobs but people feel deeply loyal towards the Conservative Party, they want to give the Prime Minister a chance, they don’t want to bring in a Jeremy Corbyn government, so he’s been able to use all of that.”

Stewart later told BBC News that if he is not reinstated as a Conservative candidate he would consider standing as an independent in his constituency in the next election.

Prepare yourself for another whirlwind day as MPs wrestle to rule out a no-deal Brexit. Lawmakers will take control of the Commons agenda and will attempt to force UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to request an extension to Brexit until January 2020 if he cannot to agree a new deal with the EU by mid-October that can muster the approval of Parliament.

Here’s how it is expected to unfold in Parliament on an action-packed Wednesday, according to the Press Association:

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tweeted to reiterate that he’s “determined the lead this country forward and take Britain out of the EU on October 31st.”

He called the bill which seeks to prevent a no-deal Brexit and is backed by an alliance of opposition MPs and rebel Conservatives a “surrender bill,” adding that it would cause “years of uncertainty and delay.”

Given that MPs voted 328 to 301 last night in favor of debating the bill, it’s likely to pass later today.

Here are the 21 Conservatives who have been sacked by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson after voting against the government.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson took an enormous gamble on Tuesday after making good on threats he would seek a general election – after firing 21 members of his own party.

Rebels in Johnson’s Conservative Party had been forewarned that voting against the government on Tuesday would result in their being thrown out of the parliamentary party and barred from standing as a Conservative at any future election.

But the unprecedented move to sack 21 Conservatives, many of them long-serving members, was a stark sign of just how high the stakes have been ratcheted up. Some observers suggest it could even amount to a reshaping of the party itself.

In carrying out the cull, Johnson blew apart his majority, presumably with the idea of replacing those members in a general election with others who will toe that line.

By seeking a snap election, he could in fact be aiming to increase his majority and strengthen his hand on Brexit all at the same time. That said, his predecessor Theresa May tried the same tactic in 2017 – and it spectacularly blew up in her face.

And it looks unlikely that he’ll be granted early elections by Parliament, which must agree to them by two-thirds majority, unless no-deal Brexit is ruled out first.

Welcome back for another day that promises to be filled with Brexit-related drama.

On Tuesday night, a rebel alliance of British lawmakers voted to seize control of the parliamentary agenda in the House of Commons. Today they will to try to push through a bill that will prevent the UK from leaving the EU on October 31 without a deal.

It was a humiliating night for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which began when he lost his working majority of 1 in the House as Tory MP Phillip Lee defected to the Liberal Democrats.

In the biggest blow of the evening, Johnson lost his first Commons vote as Prime Minister when lawmakers voted 328 to 301 to seize the order paper Wednesday and block no-deal Brexit. Johnson responded by saying he would seek a snap election rather than be forced to beg the EU for another “pointless delay” to the Brexit process.

Extraordinarily, 21 Conservative lawmakers voted in favor of the measure and were booted out of the party. Father of the House Ken Clarke – who has been a Tory lawmaker for 49 years and was part of the rebel group – told the BBC that his party had been taken over by extremists.

Other prominent lawmakers who were fired from the party include former treasure chief Phillip Hammond and the grandson of Winston Churchill, Nicholas Soames.