(CN) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered his first major setback Tuesday when a raucous Parliament voted against allowing him to lead the United Kingdom out of the European Union without a deal on Halloween.
On Tuesday evening, the House of Commons voted 328-301 against Johnson’s government. The vote was a clear signal that Johnson’s government is wobbly at best and that he may now seek to trigger new elections.
Johnson said he would call for elections if Parliament voted on Wednesday to push forward with a bill to stop a no-deal Brexit. Tuesday's vote was on a motion to allow that bill to proceed.
The defeat was one of the quickest suffered by a new British government, experts said. Johnson became prime minister at the end of July on a promise to leave the EU “do or die” on Oct. 31, and since then he had faced Parliament only once before Tuesday when the House returned from a summer recess.
After the vote was announced, a member of Parliament shouted out: “Not a good start Boris!”
Twenty-one Tory parliamentarians, including several long-time and stalwart members like Ken Clarke and Winston Churchill's grandson Nicholas Soames, voted for the motion even though they were warned about being pushed out of the party if they voted against Johnson.
Commentators say Johnson's premiership poses an existential threat to the Tories, who are bitterly divided between those who see advantages to staying in the EU and those see the EU as a faceless superstate of bureaucrats undermining British law and society.
After the defeat, Johnson told the House the vote against him meant that “Parliament was on the brink of wrecking any deal we might be able to strike with Brussels.”
Johnson insists he can get the EU to change its stance on a crucial sticking point over the future status of Northern Ireland. He argues his bargaining powers are strengthened by threatening to leave the EU without a deal.
The EU, though, says it is not willing to renegotiate the terms of the withdrawal agreement it hammered out with former Prime Minister Theresa May. Under that deal, Northern Ireland is to stay closely aligned with the EU unless a future trade agreement can be worked out.
But his critics charge that Johnson is feigning when he talks about striking a new deal and that he has no chance of winning concessions from the EU. Instead, they argue, Johnson is really bent on leaving without a deal and doing so by running down the clock.
The bill Parliament is taking up Wednesday proposes to force Johnson to ask for Brexit to be delayed until Jan. 31 unless Parliament has approved a new deal or voted in favor of leaving the EU without a deal, which a majority in Parliament is against. As it stands now, the U.K. is set to leave the EU on Oct. 31.
After his defeat, Johnson said his government would seek a new election if the no-deal Brexit bill is passed. Still, it is far from certain that Parliament will agree to hold a snap election before Oct. 31. The Labour Party, the main opposition party, is eager to hold an election but not on a timetable set by Johnson.
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