British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday challenged opposition lawmakers to try to remove him in a defiant response to the British Supreme Court’s ruling that his suspension of parliament was unlawful.
Britain’s highest court on Tuesday found that the Conservative leader acted illegally in suspending, or proroguing, parliament for five weeks in the run-up to Brexit.
However, Johnson showed no contrition as he faced the newly reconvened British House of Commons, and repeated his vow to leave the EU on Oct. 31 with or without a deal with Brussels.
To cheers from his Conservative lawmakers and roars of outrage from the opposition benches, he condemned the court ruling as “wrong.”
Faced with calls to resign, he challenged Labour and other opposition parties to call a confidence vote in his government, saying that he would make time for it to be debated yesterday.
“Will they have the courage to act or will they refuse to take responsibility and do nothing but dither and delay... What are they scared of?” he shouted across the chamber.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn declined the offer — even while calling on Johnson to resign, saying that he was “not fit for the office he holds.”
Corbyn said that he would not back an election until the prime minister’s threat of leaving the EU without a divorce deal was removed.
In the week before parliament was suspended earlier this month, lawmakers passed a law requiring Johnson to ask the EU to delay Brexit if he cannot get a deal.
“If he wants an election, get an extension and let’s have an election,” Corbyn said.
Johnson, who took office in July, said that he suspended parliament until Oct. 14 to launch a fresh legislative program.
However, critics have accused him of trying to silence lawmakers at a crucial time, with the terms of Brexit still undecided three years after the 2016 referendum.
Johnson, who flew back early from the UN General Assembly in New York to address parliament, accused lawmakers of trying to undermine Brexit.
Parliament was “gridlocked, paralyzed and refusing to deliver on the priorities of the people,” he said.
“This parliament must either stand aside and let this government get Brexit done or bring a vote of confidence and finally face the day of reckoning with the voters,” he added.
His spokesman said that a failure to call a confidence vote this week would be seen as a mandate to proceed with his Brexit strategy.
However, during a highly charged debate, many opposition lawmakers condemned Johnson’s “shameful” lack of humility.
Amid a rise in attacks on lawmakers, many abhorred his “dangerous” use of the terms surrender and betrayal when referring to their approach to Brexit.
A Conservative source said that the government was yesterday to seek to suspend parliament for three days next week for the center-right party’s annual conference.
It is standard practice to have a recess while all the parties hold their gatherings in September, but lawmakers are so angry they could vote against the plan.
The prime minister has already tried twice to call an early election, hoping to take advantage of opinion polls showing that voters like his tough Brexit stance.
However, a snap election requires support of two-thirds of lawmakers, and Johnson does not have even a simple majority in the 650-seat House of Commons.
The Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, said that if Johnson did not resign, lawmakers would at some point unite to remove him.
“We cannot trust this prime minister, his time must be up. His days of lying, of cheating and of undermining the rule of law,” he said.
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