Boris Johnson humiliated as rebels bid to block No-Deal Brexit

Despite threats that they would be kicked out of the party, 21 of his own Tory MPs rebelled in last night's debate.

It was the first vote of Johnson’s premiership, and he lost by 328 to 301.

The last Prime Minister to lose their first vote in the Commons was in 1894.

The Prime Minister insisted last night he did not want an election, but said if MPs now voted today to delay Brexit then “that would be the only way to resolve this.”

Speaking directly after the defeat, he said: “The consequences of this vote tonight means that parliament is on the brink of wrecking any deal that we might be able to get in Brussels.

"It will hand control of the negotiations to the EU.”

He confirmed to the Commons he would table a motion under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act calling for a General Election.

"The people of this country will have to choose," he said.

Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn said his party would not back an early election motion unless a Bill ruling out No Deal passed first.

He told MPs: "We live in a parliamentary democracy, we do not have a presidency but a Prime Minister.

"Prime ministers govern with the consent of the House of Commons, representing the people in whom the sovereignty rests.

"There is no consent in this house to leave the European Union without a deal. There is no majority for no deal in the country.

He added: "So he wants to table a motion for a general election, fine get the Bill through first in order to take no-deal off the table."

The Prime Minister had warned his own MPs considering rebellion that they would be expelled from the party, and in the hours before the vote, the Tory chief whip Mark Spencer had called rebels to tell them they were out.

READ MORE: Jacob Rees-Mogg lounges on Commons benches during Brexit debate

The 21 rebels included former Chancellor Philip Hammond, former Education Secretary Justine Greening and Tory grandee Ken Clarke, and former defence minister Nicholas Soames, who happens to be Winston Churchill's grandson.

All Scottish Tory MPs backed the Government.

East Renfrewshire Paul Masterton, who describes himself as a pro-deal, moderate Tory, told the BBC he wanted to give Johnson the benefit of the doubt.

“I understand that people will say ‘Paul you’re an idiot and you can’t believe anything this guy says’.

“But ultimately Boris Johnson is the leader of my party and the leader of my country and if he says something to me and looks me in the eye and says it I feel I have a duty to give him the opportunity to prove that he is good to his word.”

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said MPs had expressed a "very clear view" in favour of a law to block no deal.

"Boris Johnson and his government must respect the right of parliamentarians to represent the interests of their constituents," he said.

"Yes, there must be an election, but an election follows on from securing an extension to the [Brexit deadline]."

Last night’s vote was the first step in that bid to push back the deadline.

Using parliamentary procedure to hold an emergency debate, the soon to be ex-Tory MPs along with the SNP, LibDems, Plaid Cymru, Greens took control of Parliament’s agenda.

They have tabled a bill to be debated today which will force the Prime Minister to either secure a deal with Brussels by October 19 or push back the Brexit deadline until the end of January next year.

Opening the debate, Sir Oliver Letwin said this week would be the last opportunity for Parliament to stop the government crashing the UK out of the EU with no deal.

The Bill would, he said, “provide the government with the time to seek to solve this problem and to enable parliament to help to resolve an issue which has proved very difficult.”

Letwin added: “I don’t say it’s easy to do by January 31, but I’m sure that it will not be done by October 31. We are between a rock and a hard place, and in this instance the hard place is better than the rock. It is as simple as that. It’s decision time.

“If honourable members across the house want to prevent a No-Deal exit on October 31 they will have the opportunity to do so if, but only if they vote for this motion this evening. I hope they will do so.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was leading for the government, said the approach was “the most unconstitutional use of this house since the days of Charles Stewart Parnell when he tried to bung up parliament”.

He added: “Sovereignty comes from the people to parliament, it does not come to parliament out of a void. If parliament tries to challenge the people, this stretches the elastic of our constitution near to breaking point.”

READ MORE: Ian Blackford tells ‘tinpot’ Boris Johnson told to give Scots a say

Johnson had urged MPs to reject the motion “so that we can get the right deal for our country, deliver Brexit and take the whole country forward”.

“It is not a Bill in any normal sense of the word: it is without precedent in our history. It is a Bill that, if passed, would force me to go to Brussels and beg for an extension.

“It would force me to accept the terms offered. It would destroy any chance of negotiation for a new deal.

“It would destroy it. Indeed, it would enable our friends in Brussels to dictate the terms of the negotiation. That is what it would do. There is only one way to describe the Bill: it is Jeremy Corbyn’s surrender Bill.”

Corbyn told Johnson that the UK was surrendering because we were not at war with Europe.

He added: “They are surely our partners. If anything, it is a No-Deal exit that would mean surrendering our industry, our jobs, surrendering our standards of protections in a trade deal with Donald Trump and the United States.”

The bill won’t necessarily get through Parliament easily.

Pro-Johnson forces in the House of Lords have tabled 92 amendments and plan on forcing a vote on each and every one of them and a group of 17 Labour MPs have called for Theresa May’s deal to be brought back.