Strike threat prompted request
said it had to happen because Parliament would never have passed his deal.
“I love being Prime Minister,” he said. “I want to go on and do all the things we want to do for the country.”
But, banging the desk, he added: “The problem is Parliament again. Having voted for the Surrender Act, they knew they had us over a barrel when it came to October 31.
“They deliberately voted for delay. They could have easily ratified that thing.
“It was pure manoeuvring and the trouble is, I am afraid, that Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party who led it couldn’t be relied on to get it over the line by January 31.
“For the people of this country that is the worst outcome.
“I thought, ‘You are facing infinite delay, so what you need is resolution’. And the only way a Government can get resolution is an election.”
THETHREAT of a Civil Service strike played a part in forcing Boris Johnson to ask for an extension of Britain’s membership of the EU.
Mr Johnson said once Parliament made asking for a Brexit extension the law – the so-called “Surrender Act” – his hands were in effect tied.
He said: “What Parliament did with the Surrender Act just made it impossible, and we faced a situation in which you cannot hold ministerial office and be in contempt of court.
“That’s the truth and we would have had a big walkout by the Civil Service.”
He said there were a number of constitutional issues he would seek to address if re-elected, including fixed-term parliaments.
It was the Fixed-term Parliament Act (FTPA) which in effect gave Jeremy Corbyn a veto on an election and allowed him to prolong the uncertainty.
Mr Johnson said: “I don’t think the FTPA has commanded much support in any part of Parliament recently – except possibly sections of the Labour Party who did not want an election at all. About 100 of them still refused to vote for the election.”
He also hinted there could be changes to the powers of the Supreme Court, headed by President Lady Hale, which in effect overruled the Queen to say his controversial proroguing of Parliament was illegal.
Mr Johnson said: “We need to settle the relationship there. It was a very interesting judgment.”