End this nightmare, Johnson tells Corbyn
PM challenges Labour to let the people have their say in a Dec 12 general election
BORIS JOHNSON last night challenged Jeremy Corbyn to “end this nightmare” by agreeing to an election on Dec 12.
The Prime Minister said that if MPS agreed to the pre-christmas poll he would reintroduce his Brexit Bill and give Parliament until Nov 6 to pass it.
Mr Johnson has threatened to effectively mothball Parliament if a vote on a snap poll on Monday’s fails. A No10 source said the Government would do the “bare minimum” in terms of legislation if it lost and “focus everything on securing an election”.
It means Mr Johnson has finally abandoned his “do or die” pledge to get Britain out of the EU by Oct 31, with Nov 15 earmarked as a potential new date for Brexit if Parliament agrees to his deal. He called on Mr Corbyn to “summon up the nerve” to let voters decide who should take the country forward, or condemn Britain to “paralysis”.
It left Labour in disarray, with Mr Corbyn fudging his response by saying he would back an election once no deal was “off the table”, and hinting he would make his final decision today.
However, Labour whips had already sent out instructions to MPS to abstain in Monday’s vote to deny Mr Johnson the “super majority” of two thirds of all MPS to trigger an early election. Momentum, the pro-corbyn campaign group, backed an election, saying “bring it on”. Ian Lavery, the party chairman, was among figures understood to be urging Mr Corbyn to accept.
Labour MPS will also be under immense pressure from constituents desperate for a decision on Brexit.
Mr Johnson said: “The way to get Brexit done is to be reasonable with Parliament and say ‘if you genuinely want more time to examine this excellent Brexit deal, you can have it, but they have to agree to a general election on Dec 12’.
“This Parliament has been going on for a long time without a majority, it’s refusing to deliver Brexit, it’s impossible to deliver legislation. It’s time, frankly, the Opposition summoned up the nerve to submit themselves to our collective boss, the people of the UK.”
A No10 source said: “We will ask the question: ‘If Parliament refuses to allow Brexit and refuses to allow an election then what’s the point of Parliament?’”
Mr Corbyn left open the possibility that he could back an election, saying: “The European Union will decide whether there’s going to be an extension or not. That will obviously encompass whether there’s a no deal or not.” Pressed on whether he could back an election, he replied: “The principle is: take no deal off the table, EU answer, then we can decide.”
Downing Street said if Mr Corbyn signalled today that he would whip MPS to vote for an election, Parliament could be recalled tomorrow to agree a
Anna Mikhailova
Christopher Hope
BORIS JOHNSON bounded into his office behind the Speakers’ chair, where 15 members of the influential 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPS were waiting for him.
With just nine minutes to go until Parliament’s afternoon vote on the Queen’s Speech, the Prime Minister told them: “The time has come. We will offer MPS time to get this deal done.
“Then we will have an election by 12 December. The country has had enough of this.” There was no time for questions – the senior Tories banged the desks in appreciation and Mr Johnson was gone in a flash.
That morning, the arrival at No10 of Catherine Colonna, the French ambassador to the UK, sent Westminster tongues wagging and fuelled expectation that Brussels had reached a decision on the extension.
However, both the French and British sides said the meeting wasn’t Brexit related, and the day ticked along until 3pm, when ministers were summoned to an emergency Cabinet meeting with two hours’ notice.
“We were expecting a decision and waiting to hear what the plan would be,” a Government source said – and a row looked on the cards after the Cabinet appeared split over the timing of a general election.
While Sajid Javid, Gavin Williamson, Dominic Raab, Priti Patel and Jacob Rees-mogg had urged Mr Johnson to go to the polls, Julian Smith, the Northern Ireland Secretary, and Nicky Morgan, the Culture Secretary, favoured trying to get legislation through first.
On the way into Cabinet, Mr Smith said: “Let’s just get Brexit sorted and get this Bill over the line. There’s obviously different views, but we should make sure we try to get everybody on board and get this through.”
Ministers had “grappled with pros and cons of both”, the source said, until the Prime Minister presented his plan – giving MPS the chance to continue debating his Bill, on the condition that they grant him an election.
“I wasn’t expecting both,” one Cabinet source said, describing it as a “typical
‘These repeated delays have been bad for the economy, bad for businesses, and bad for millions of people trying to plan their futures’
No 10 blinder” – uniting the two factions in Cabinet. Downing Street was seen as “being bold, putting the ball back in Corbyn’s court”.
Another Government source said it was an “elegant route” adding: “You had two sides – one side wanted an election, the other wanted to try one last time to get [the Act] through Parliament. This does both.”
No 10 had started “fleshing out” the plan on Wednesday night, with officials working late into the night and finishing it in the morning. The mood there yesterday was “focused”, Downing Street said.
Yesterday, Mr Johnson started his day talking though the plans with officials, advisers and a number of ministers to “discuss how the next steps would play out”.
Before meeting the Cabinet, Mr Johnson started formulating his letter to Jeremy Corbyn.
In it, he told the Leader of the Opposition: “Our duty to end this nightmare.
“It is clear from the public and private comments of President [Donald] Tusk that it is likely that the EU will offer a delay until 31 January.”
“These repeated delays have been bad for the economy, bad for businesses, and bad for millions of people trying to plan their futures,” the Prime Minister wrote, adding that further delay will cause “misery for millions”.
When he had finished his hour-long Cabinet meeting, Mr Johnson’s convoy swept through Carriage Gates and into Parliament to meet the 1922 Committee in his private rooms.
There, the Prime Minister set out his plans for the forthcoming election. “We will campaign in every corner of the UK in every seat on a message of optimism,” he said.
One Tory MP at the meeting said: “He was on fire. He was certain over what he wanted to achieve.”
However, another Conservative said that he doubted Labour MPS would vote for it. “Why should we have this election if we lose our jobs?”
More likely is that the Government will carry on introducing Bills from the Queen’s Speech and try to pass them using cross-party support. The MP said: “We will keep governing.”
Mr Johnson then set out his plans in a television interview, recorded in Downing Street with the BBC, before he went to Parliament. He said it was time for MPS to “make way for a new, fresh Parliament that can deliver on the priorities of the British people”.
He added: “If they genuinely want more time to study this excellent deal, then they can have it, but they have to agree to a general election on December 12.”
Meanwhile, in the Commons, MPS were finishing their debate on the Government’s domestic policy set out in the Queen’s Speech, which passed by 310 votes to 294.
Mr Rees-mogg then took to the Dispatch Box to announce that MPS will debate the general election motion on Monday.
The Leader of the House said that Mr
Johnson will give MPS more time to debate his deal if they agree to a Dec 12 general election. Parliament would then have 12 days to pass the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.
Mr Rees-mogg said the Tories were willing to “work 24 hours a day” to get the Bill over the line, and said: “We will make available all possible time between now and November 6.”
Valerie Vaz, his Labour counterpart, took the wind out of his sails when she stood up and said that Labour “will back an election, once no deal is ruled out and if the extension allows [it]” – suggesting that the party is unlikely to vote for the motion on Monday.
The opposition did not only come from the Opposition benches. In the afternoon a group of 41 “One Nation” Tory MPS met the deputy Chief Whip, Amanda Milling, to say they did not want an early election.
David Lidington was outspoken and said the party “can’t have an election when Northern Ireland is in limbo,” a source told The Telegraph.
One MP said the group wants a Spring election because “they think things are very difficult and tricky at
the moment. They are worried about the Lib Dems in their seats.”
Opposition MPS were also quick to accuse Mr Johnson of a “publicity stunt” over the Queen’s Speech.
In the morning, Jeremy Corbyn told a meeting of Labour staff to prepare for an election, saying: “We may have an election called today, maybe next week, maybe next month, maybe next year.”
By yesterday evening, the latter scenario looked more likely, as Labour MPS suggested they will block Mr Johnson’s third attempt to get an election motion through the Commons. Mr
Corbyn later said, in an interview with Sky News, that he will only back Mr Johnson’s election offer when a no-deal Brexit is “off the table”.
Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat leader, said they will also “not support any election until it is clear that we can avoid crashing out with no deal, and that needs an extension from the EU”.
Setting out the battle lines for next week, Mr Rees-mogg told the Commons: “Eternity is too short for the opposition. However much time we give them, they will come up with some foolish objection,” he said.