Johnson rallies party with vow to ‘get Brexit done’

MANCHESTER (AFP) — Embattled British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gathered his Conservative party Sunday for what could be its final conference before an election, promising to “get Brexit done.”

Despite a string of parliamentary setbacks and a defeat in the Supreme Court, Johnson insists he will take Britain out of the European Union next month, with or without a deal with Brussels.

“What we need to do is to move on. And the way to do that is to get Brexit done on October 31,” he told BBC television in Manchester, northwest England, where the conference is taking place.

His tough stance has put him at odds with the House of Commons, which has passed a law blocking a “no deal” exit, and lost him a number of his own MPs. But it resonates with the overwhelmingly pro-Brexit Conservative party members who elected him in July — and are expected to give him a hero’s welcome.

The conference “will be a rally for Boris Johnson and a rally for Brexit,” predicted Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.

Even as it started, however, Johnson faced new questions about his relationship with a U.S. businesswoman who won public grants.

The four-day conference also risks being disrupted by parliamentary business in London.

Opposition MPs were furious at Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament for five weeks in early September — a move the Supreme Court quashed on Tuesday — and refused to agree to the normal conference recess.