Briexit PM sends EU request to delay Brexit after losing vote in the House of Commons.

An extension of the Brexit date would dent Johnson's credibility as he promised to take the UK out of the EU on October 31st.

Britain's parliament has inflicted a humiliating defeat on Boris Johnson days after he returned from Brussels with a deal aimed at ending the Brexit deadlock ahead of the October 31 deadline for the UK to quit the European Union.

Reflecting fears among MPs that the prime minister may have sought to engineer withdrawal without a deal - which economists say would be disastrous - they voted by 322 to 306 to withhold backing for his plans on Saturday.  19th Oct.2019.

Johnson later sent the EU a letter requesting the extension of the Brexit deadline, along with another letter in which he made clear that he personally opposed a delay.

Unsigned letter

Dear Mr President,

The UK Parliament has passed the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019. Its provisions now require Her Majesty's Government to seek an extension of the period provided under Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union, including as applied by Article 106a of the Euratom Treaty, currently due to expire at 11 p.m. GMT on 31 October 2019, until 11 p.m. GMT on 31 January 2020.

I am writing therefore to inform the European Council that the United Kingdom is seeking a further extension to the period provided under Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union, including as applied by Article 106a of the Euratom Treaty. The United Kingdom proposes that this period should end at 11 p.m. GMT on 31 January 2020. If the parties are able to ratify before this date, the Government proposes that the period should be terminated early.

Yours sincerely,

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

 

And the prime minister was forced to ask the EU for a delay to Brexit, something he vowed he would absolutely never do.

But he has sent the letter requesting it grudgingly, sending just a photocopy of what was spelt out in law, with a personal letter to the rest of the continent pleading with them not to listen.

Not surprisingly that has sent his political enemies into furious overdrive and, as I write, the outrage over his ploy is already in full swing.

He's been branded "pathetic" and "shameful", one Labour peer joking "surely there should be a fourth letter too, saying 'my name is Boris Johnson and I am five years old'."

Next week the fight over the deal and delay will continue, in the courts and in Parliament. No 10's opponents may try to show his approach to delay to be against the law in the courts.

His political enemies in Parliament will try to block his deal, again and again. If you think Parliament has been bruising and bizarre for both sides already, stand by for ever more complicated days.