Boris Johnson has no intention of apologising for failing to meet his repeatedly-promised deadline of 31 October to leave the EU, and believes parliament is to blame for the delay, Downing Street has said.
At the regular lobby briefing there was not, as yet, a formal response to the EU’s offer of another extension, to 31 January. Johnson’s spokesman said the PM was in Essex on a visit connected to the death last week of 39 people found in the back of lorry. He said:
The PM has not yet seen the EU’s response to parliament’s request for a delay, and the PM will respond once he has seen the detail. His view has not changed: parliament should not have put the UK in this position and we should be leaving on 31 October.
With a delay inevitable, Johnson’s spokesman was repeatedly pressed on whether the PM had any contrition for failing to keep to the key campaign pledge which arguably most helped him become Conservative leader and this enter No 10. The answer, while oblique, was a definite “no”. His spokesman said:
What the prime minister has done, despite being told it was impossible, was secure a deal and set out a timetable which would have allowed us to deliver that deal on 31 October. Parliament has stood in the way of being able to deliver Brexit.
Pressed repeatedly on the matter, he eventually said: “I’ve think I’ve said all I have to say on that matter.”
What does seem more likely is that Downing Street could embrace a version of the Lib Dem-inspired plan to force an election via a new bill requiring a simple majority in the Commons, if its attempt to call one through a motion under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act (FTPA) does not reach the necessary two-thirds majority, as seems inevitable.
Asked about the idea of a bill-based election, Johnson’s spokesman said the government was “currently focused on the FTPA bill”.
But if this falls, it seems there could be movement on an election bill pretty quickly. It is understood the government could even accept the Lib Dems’ preferred election date of 9 December, meaning that to allow the required five-week campaign period, the election would need to be called this week.
With parliament not due to sit on Friday, and set to be dominated on Wednesday by the response to the report into the Grenfell tragedy, that would leave Tuesday or Thursday.
Yet even with this tight timetable, so far there have been no talks between the Lib Dems and No 10.
