In what can only be described as a historic defeat for any sitting prime minister in which opposition parties won control of the parliamentary agenda with a majority of twenty seven, helped by twenty one Tory rebels who are all set to lose the conservative whip, parliament has taken back control but the showdown over Brexit continues.
By convention, the prime minister is meant to command a majority in the House of Commons but after yesterday’s decisive move by opposition parties who won control of the parliamentary agenda it would seem that Mr Johnson is starting to feel the heat like his predecessor Theresa May and in the words of Sky News’s Lewis Goodall “is being commanded by parliament.”
Today, opposition MPs will attempt to pass legislation to extend the Brexit deadline to 31 January 2020 if no agreement has been reached and MPs have not approved a no deal Brexit.
After all the talk of “I don’t want a general election, you don’t want a general election, and the public don’t want a general election” Boris Johnson announced that he would be tabling a motion under the Fixed Term- Parliaments Act (2011) to have an election.
So, what does this mean, firstly the government would need to secure at least two thirds of MPs voting for this motion and the reality is that this is likely to fail. If opposition MPs are successful in their attempt to pass legislation to extend the Brexit deadline it will have to ensure that legislation receives royal assent prior to parliament being suspended but there is also mounting speculation that Boris Johnson could advise the Queen not to grant the Bill royal assent, something that hasn’t happened since 1708 when Queen Anne was advised by ministers to refuse royal assent for the Scottish Militia Bill.
In these unprecedented, unpredictable and uncertain times there is never a dull moment in British politics, but one thing remains certain, the United Kingdom will almost certainly have an election one way or another and at this moment it’s too early to make any concrete predictions as to who will be the next tenant at number 10.