U.K. Parliament again rejects Boris Johnson's call for an early election

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s dreams of an election that would clear his path to Brexit by the end of October were decisively dashed after midnight Tuesday morning, leaving him with no obvious means of making good on his vow of a “do or die” exit from the European Union.

The latest obstacle to Johnson’s plans came in the form of yet another defeat in the House of Commons, where the once-swaggering prime minister has lost every key vote of his young premiership. Tuesday was the second time in as many weeks that Johnson has asked for Parliament to allow a fresh election, only to be rebuffed by a unified opposition.

“Why are they conniving to delay Brexit?” Johnson taunted as debate kicked off Monday night, with his fellow Tories cheering him on. “The only possible explanation is they fear we will win.”

In a rowdy, passionate debate, Alan Duncan, a Conservative lawmaker and former foreign minister, said that his party was in a “Kafkaesque” situation with the government unable to govern without a parliamentary majority and unable to call an election without opposition lawmakers on board. Lawmakers began debating the issue, hours after Speaker John Bercow surprised his colleagues by announcing he would step aside within weeks. The speaker has become a polarizing figure in a country divided sharply along Brexit lines.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/irelands-leader-does-johnson-no-favors-as-the-british-prime-minister-seeks-to-unblock-brexit/2019/09/09/de680eaa-d0e4-11e9-a620-0a91656d7db6_story.html

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Full headline: U.K. Parliament again rejects Boris Johnson’s call for an early election, narrowing the besieged prime minister’s options

[asiliveandbreathe]

1. Snipping, taunting, chaos, except for the fine work of the OR-DAH Speaker..Bercow..

The SNP’s Ian Blackford says Johnson has lost every vote in the House of Commons since he became prime minister and predicted he will be “swept from government” in the next election.

The Green Party’s Caroline Lucas says that events tonight have clearly shown that the political system is broken. “It is wrong that a prime minister can suspend parliament as a mere inconvenience simply to avoid scrutiny. It is wrong that he can cynically try to use the proposals for a general election as a way of getting us to crash out of the EU while we’re in the middle of a general election campaign. We can no longer continue with an uncodified constitution that depends on people playing by the rules when we have a feral government.”

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Boris! Solve your problem! Change that 'l' to a 'j'

Your early ejection would pass in an instant!

[Evolve Dammit]

3. Blowing up England while Trump blows up the U.S. Putin must be ecstatic.

[Mersky]

4. And so, the prorogue period begins (or so I thought at the time I posted)

Last edited Mon Sep 9, 2019, 08:52 PM - Edit history (1)

Have had the Parliament live stream running in the background of my day. Has been a wild ride.

On edit: I may have been a little early with the commencement of the proroguing. Lol, just when I think I'm following Parliament well, I may have missed Bercow's speech and other stuff at the end. I'll watch it. I recommend others watch the whole day.

[Denzil_DC]

5. The Fixed Term Parliament Act is deeply flawed and I'd like to see it revoked,

or at least heavily amended. But in this case it's working as intended by one of the main justifications put forward for it when it was proposed: to prevent a prime minister calling an opportunistic election at the most advantageous time.

Johnson has only himself to blame at this juncture. Nobody trusted him not to pull a fast one and bring forward the election date if he was given free rein by a vote of no confidence.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

6. Sucks to be him