JOHNSON SENDS UNSIGNED REQUEST FOR BREXIT DELAY

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was accused of using the “Trump rulebook” late Saturday after he sent an unsigned pro-forma letter to the EU requesting a delay to Brexit, accompanied by a signed letter explaining that he does not want a delay.

European Council President Donald Tusk received three letters from London, an European Union source told dpa on condition of anonymity, noting that Johnson did not sign the letter requesting a

Brexit extension.

The letters are an unsigned copy of the text prescribed in the legislation demanding that the British government request an extension, a note from British EU ambassador

Tim Barrow, and a signed letter from Johnson opposing a Brexit extension, the source said. “It’s straight out of the [US President Donald] Trump rulebook and Boris Johnson must be stopped,” British opposition Labour lawmaker David Lammy tweeted. Tusk tweeted that he would “start consulting EU leaders on how to react.” Johnson’s office, 10 Downing Street, confirmed that the extension request had been sent but declined to give details or copies of the documents.

The three documents were widely circulated online by British media and politicians. The British government was legally obliged to send the request after lawmakers voted earlier Saturday to postpone parliament’s vote on the Brexit deal agreed Thursday between Johnson and the EU. The move was aimed at preventing Britain from leaving the

EU on October 31 without a transitional deal in place because the necessary legislation could not be ratified in time.