A British professor was on explaining the mess, saying this could be a never ending situation. He also said Theresa May was seen after her visit with the queen, and had a broad smile. She must feel a sense of satisfaction that Boris is having a tough time.
U.K. Lawmakers Pass Brexit Bill, Defying Johnson
By Stephen Castle
Sept. 4, 2019
Updated 2:57 p.m. ET
LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson was battered again on Wednesday as lawmakers from his own party and the opposition pressed ahead to stop his plan for leaving the European Union without an agreement.
Having won control of the legislative agenda on Tuesday night, lawmakers wanted to move quickly on a bill that would rule out Mr. Johnson’s plan for a withdrawal by the end of next month even if there is no deal, which many say would cause chaos. On Wednesday afternoon by a vote of 327 to 299, they pushed the bill through a second stage in the two-step process.
The bill now goes to the House of Lords, which must give its assent.
After a night of extraordinary theater in Parliament, Mr. Johnson had confronted on Wednesday a bleak scene scattered with the remnants of his Brexit policy and raising the possibility that the issue could destroy his premiership just as it has the two previous Conservative prime ministers, but more rapidly.
In the course of Tuesday evening, the prime minister had lost control of Parliament, and with it his oft-made promise to carry out Brexit, “do or die;” possibly fractured his Conservative Party by carrying out a purge of 21 rebel Tory lawmakers who voted against the government; and saw his plan for a swift general election being resisted by his opponents.
Even if lawmakers ultimately decide to proceed with a quick election, there are urgent questions about whether that will settle anything, given the divisions in the traditional political parties, the Conservatives and Labour, engendered by the Brexit issue.
Wednesday’s events unfolded against a developing consensus among Mr. Johnson’s opponents that he may have overplayed his hand through hardball tactics, devised by his adviser Dominic Cummings, a leading strategist in the main pro-Brexit campaign during the 2016 referendum.
From suspending Parliament for five weeks to kicking out rebel Tories for voting against the government, Mr. Johnson has united disparate elements in the opposition and his own party against him.
Another product of his take-no-prisoners approach has been an erosion of trust. While he needs the Labour Party’s votes to reach the two-thirds threshold required in Parliament to call an election, its leaders are deeply suspicious of his motives.
The prime minister has said an election would take place on Oct. 15, but they worry that he will invent an excuse to move the date closer to the Oct. 31 deadline for leaving the European Union — or even after that — at the very least leaving no time for legislating after the balloting.
Determined not to “walk into a trap,” as the Labour spokesman on Brexit, Keir Starmer, said on Wednesday, the party is refusing to back Mr. Johnson’s call for an election until legislation ruling out a no-deal Brexit becomes the law of the land.
Mr. Starmer said Labour would not vote for an election on a promise from Mr. Johnson “that it will be 15 October — which we don’t believe.”
Tory rebels who voted against the government on Tuesday were told immediately afterward that they no longer represented the party, depriving the government of a working majority and prompting a fierce backlash from internal critics, who pointed out that most of the current government ministers had broken with the party in previous Brexit votes without retribution.
For Mr. Johnson’s opponents, the question now is whether to allow an election to take place in October or to delay it into November, once the current Brexit deadline has been put back beyond Oct. 31.
Many Labour lawmakers favor November, fearing that if Mr. Johnson were to win an October election with a clear majority, he could reverse any law they make this week preventing a no-deal Brexit, and pull Britain out of the European Union on Oct. 31 without an agreement.
Other opposition politicians are willing to take that risk, including Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National Party, who wrote on Twitter that she would support an election once the new legislation was in place.
Her support could be important if, later this week, Mr. Johnson tries to force through an October general election by legislating to set aside the requirement for a two-thirds majority of lawmakers. Under that maneuver, he would require only a simple majority.
However the wrangling in Parliament comes out in the coming days, most analysts believe that an election is inevitable in the near future after years of stalemate over Brexit, and is probably the only way to break the cycle of endless and fruitless debate.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/world/europe/brexit-boris-johnson-parliament.html?campaign_id=60&instance_id=0&segment_id=16720&user_id=75ee940ebe2fd3e9d0a6bb93cf283302®i_id=16112385ing-news
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