BORIS LOSES »» WHAT NEXT?
But he’ll tell EU leaders he doesn’t want a Brexit delay
votes, backing rebel Tory Sir Oliver’s amendment for postponenment 322-306 until all Brexit legislation is passed. Faced with such a bruising defeat, Mr Johnson told his MPs not to bother even voting on his deal.
Had the PM not so angered Northern Ireland’s DUP, and its 10 MPs who voted against him, he’d have carried the day.
Now Mr Johnson will bring his deal back to the Commons tomorrow with another vote on Tuesday on the contents of his withdrawal agreement.
But even if the House of Lords sat on both Saturday and Sunday to allow it to complete all stages it would still be nigh on impossible to meet the deadline.
Jeremy Corbyn said: “The PM must now comply with the law.
“He can no longer use the threat of a no-deal crash out to blackmail MPs to support his sell-out deal.” The SNP’s Ian Blackford warned no PM was “above the law” and the DUP’s Nigel Dodds said: “The deal is not Brexit for Northern Ireland.”
Ex-PM Theresa May backed Mr Johnson’s deal and said all MPs who voted for Article 50 triggering the Brexit process should do likewise.
MPs who could not find childcare for the day brought their children in. Peter Theodore Alphege Rees- Mogg, 12, shook his head in disagreement as Mr Corbyn spoke. He watched from a side gallery dressed in the same suit, tie and specs style of his Commons leader father Jacob in the Chamber below.
Commons staff were called in on their day off but were rewarded with overtime plus £20 an hour and free tea and coffee. As MPs debated thousands of demonstrators seeking a second referendum sang Jerusalem outside Parliament’s gates.
Later Mr Rees-Mogg and his son were given a police escort as they walked home amid a hail of abuse including shouts of “Shame on you”
and “traitor”.
nigel.nelson@ sundaymirror.co.uk MONDAY: Boris Johnson will attempt to get his deal through Parliament again. Speaker John Bercow will tell him whether that will be allowed.
TUESDAY: Mr Johnson’s Withdrawal Bill gets its second reading. MPs will be able to vote on whether to accept it.
NEXT WEEKEND: The Lords may be asked to sit to get the Bill through. But only if MPs have approved it.
A WEEK ON THURSDAY: The UK will leave the EU . . . or not.