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Johnson has called a cabinet meeting for later Monday and could ask lawmakers to vote on calling an election if they vote against his government on Brexit.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is preparing to call an election, British media reported Monday, on the eve of a historic showdown with parliament over Brexit.
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Johnson has called a cabinet meeting for later Monday and could ask lawmakers to vote on calling an election if they vote against his government on Brexit, BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg said.
“Cabinet is being called for this afternoon,” Kuenssberg said. “Real possibility now Johnson might put a motion down to ask MPs to vote for an election this week.”
“This would happen if the rebels pass the law - not of course if they lose!”
Johnson’s promise to take the country out of the European Union on Oct. 31 with or without a deal to smooth the divorce between the world’s fifth-largest economy and its biggest trading partner has propelled the United Kingdom towards a constitutional crisis and a battle with the 27 other members of the bloc.
An alliance of opposition lawmakers is plotting with rebels in Johnson’s Conservative Party to take control of parliament and tie the government’s hands with legislation that would block a no-deal exit, fearing leaving without a deal will be ruinous.
Just 24 hours until parliament returns Tuesday from its summer break, Johnson’s enforcers warned rebels that if they voted against the government they would be kicked out of his Conservative Party.
With little clarity on whether the deadlocked British parliament might be able to come up with a resolution to the three-year Brexit crisis, talk turned to a possible election.
“We want a general election,” opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said, to oust Johnson’s “phony, populist cabal”.
He added, “We must come together to stop no-deal - this week could be our last chance.”
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However, former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Corbyn to avoid what he cast as an election “elephant trap” Johnson had laid for Labour.
“Boris Johnson knows that if no-deal Brexit stands on its own as a proposition it might well fail but if he mixes it up with the Corbyn question in a general election he could succeed despite a majority being against a no-deal Brexit because some may fear a Corbyn premiership more,” Blair said.
The Sun newspaper’s political editor Tom Newton Dunn also said Johnson was preparing to call an election.
Asked if Johnson was planning an election, his spokesman said, “He has been asked this on many, many occasions and his answer has always been that he doesn’t want there to be an election.”
After winning the top job in the chaos that followed the 2016 EU membership referendum, then Prime Minister Theresa May bet on a 2017 snap election but lost her majority.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the minister responsible for parliamentary business, said any wise party would prepare for an election and that any vote on rebel legislation would be considered a matter of confidence in the government.
“It is important for the government to establish the confidence of the House of Commons and this is essentially a confidence matter: Who should control the legislative agenda, Jeremy Corbyn or Boris Johnson?” Rees-Mogg said.
An election would open up three main options: a Brexit-supporting government under Johnson, a Labour government led by Corbyn or a hung parliament that could lead to a coalition or minority government of some kind.
After Johnson moved to suspend parliament ahead of Brexit, opponents of a no-deal exit are seeking to overturn his decision in the courts. Hearings are due on Sept. 3, Sept. 5 and Sept. 6.
Nick Boles, a former Conservative who now sits as an independent member of parliament, said the rebels would seek to force the government to ask the EU for a Brexit delay if it was unable to ratify a revised Withdrawal Agreement by a certain date in October.
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