This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Boris Johnson’s bid to trigger a general election next month has been blocked by MPs following a string of heavy defeats for the government in both houses of parliament.

The prime minister was thwarted three times in the House of Commons: an attempt by opposition parties and Tory rebels to block a no-deal Brexit easily cleared its second and third readings, and Johnson later failed in his attempt to force a snap general election.

Immediately afterwards, the prime minister called Jeremy Corbyn, “the first leader of the opposition in the democratic history of our country to refuse the invitation to an election”.

But an early poll seemed increasingly likely after the Labour leader signalled that he would back Johnson’s call for a snap poll, but only once the bill opposing a no-deal Brexit bill has passed.

The vote came just 48 hours after the prime minister told the public, “I don’t want an election, you don’t want an election”.

The motion he tabled calling for an early poll was supported by 298 MPs, but that fell well short of the two-thirds required, with Labour MPs whipped to abstain.

But Corbyn made clear explicitly that Labour is ready to support a similar motion, once Hilary Benn’s backbench bill to block a no-deal Brexit has received royal assent, which could happen early next week if it is not scuppered by Tory peers.

Corbyn told MPs, “we want an election, because we look forward to turfing this government out.” But he claimed Johnson’s proposal for a 15 October poll was, “a bit like the offer of an apple to Snow White by the wicked queen”.

Play Video 1:53 Poisoned apples and the emperor’s new clothes: Corbyn hits back at PM's election demand – video

Speaking after the Commons had rushed through Benn’s bill, which Tory peers are now seeking to block in the House of Lords, the Labour leader said, “let this bill pass, and gain royal assent: then we will back a general election.”

The Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, said her MPs would not back an election until after article 50 has been extended. “We do relish the opportunity to fight an election, and we are confident that we would make significant gains. Yet stopping no deal is the priority and in the best national interest,” she said.

Commons chaos: is no deal blocked? Is an election happening? Read more

Johnson has repeatedly called the legislation, which would oblige him to seek an extension to article 50 if he has not secured a new Brexit deal by 19 October, “Jeremy Corbyn’s surrender bill”.

“I think it’s very sad that MPs have voted like this,” Johnson said, adding, “the country must decide” whether he or Corbyn go to Brussels for the critical European council meeting on 17 October.

“He would beg for an extension; he would accept whatever Brexit demands, and we would have years more dither and delay,” he said.

Benn’s bill passed through all its stages in the Commons in a matter of hours on Wednesday, as the rebels maintained their solid majority over Johnson’s government, gaining a new Conservative convert in former minister Caroline Spelman.

There were occasionally chaotic scenes. One amendment, tabled by Labour MP Stephen Kinnock, and calling for the extension to be used for the purpose of passing a Brexit deal, effectively passed by default.

Johnson’s motion calling for a general election was held 24 hours after he failed to prevent backbench MPs led by former Conservative minister Oliver Letwin seizing control of the parliamentary timetable to debate the anti no-deal Brexit bill.

The prime minister campaigned for the Conservative party leadership with the slogan, “deliver Brexit by 31 October, unite the party, defeat Jeremy Corbyn –≠ and energise our country!”

But just weeks after taking power, he is facing a growing backlash from colleagues on Wednesday, after 21 MPs, including former chancellor Philip Hammond and Winston Churchill’s grandson Nicholas Soames, were expelled from their party.

Soames said on Wednesday, “I will not be standing at the next election, and I am thus approaching the end of 37 years’ service to this House, of which I have been proud and honoured beyond words to be a member. I am truly very sad that it should end in this way.”

Play Video 2:16 Sir Nicholas Soames delivers emotional speech after Tory whip withdrawn – video

In a crowded evening meeting of the 1922 Committee less than 24 hours after the defenestration of the 21 rebels, senior Tories including the former defence minister Tobias Ellwood, Theresa May’s former deputy Damian Green, former children’s minister Tim Loughton and the veteran MP Sir Edward Leigh, all expressed deep concern at the move.

One MP said there was alarm that “current tactics could be interpreted as a desire to shift the party to the right, to which the PM gave an emphatic no.” Several sought assurances that if a fresh deal was put to the Commons, the same disciplinary measures would be applied to Brexiters opposed to the withdrawal agreement, the so-called “Spartans”.

Green later wrote to Johnson on behalf of the One Nation group of moderate Tories – originally set up by the current cabinet minister Amber Rudd – saying they were “deeply concerned” about the whip being removed from “principled, valued and dedicated colleagues”.

Green, who chairs the group, said that the actions overnight had “hindered the mission” of uniting the party and said the group could only support Johnson “if moderate modernising Conservatives are still welcome in Parliamentary party”.

However, in an exchange with Tory Brexiter Daniel Kawczynski at the 1922 meeting, Johnson appeared to commit that no MP would have the whip restored. Kawczynski was booed by some MPs for his remarks but said he wanted to hear them on the record from the prime minister. “He said the whip would not be restored to them and I am going to hold him to it.”

After opening the debate on his call for a general election, Johnson faced a withering response from Kenneth Clarke, who the previous day had been stripped of the Conservative whip after 49 years as a Tory MP.

“I do think the prime minister, with the greatest respect, has a tremendous skill in keeping a straight face whilst he’s being so disingenuous,” Clarke told a scowling Johnson.

The PM, Clarke said, was “desperate” for an election before 31 October “on the basis that he’s been thwarted in getting an amazing, beneficial deal for this country”.

It was nonsense for Johnson to say that backers of the bill hoped to overturn Brexit, Clarke said: “A very large percentage of those who’ve been defeating him over the last two days are prepared to vote for Brexit – they’ve voted for Brexit more often than he has.”

Earlier, Johnson and Corbyn clashed at a bad-tempered PMQs – Johnson’s first since taking office in July.

The Labour leader accused the PM of not having a Brexit negotiating strategy and trying to cover up the true impact of a no-deal departure.

Johnson – who pointedly failed to answer any of Corbyn’s direct questions – in turn accused the Labour leader of running scared of a snap election.

Play Video 2:01 Caracas and chlorinated chicken: Johnson's first PMQs clash with Corbyn – video highlights

The exchanges, in which Johnson was barracked remorselessly by the opposition benches, came the day after the prime minister lost his first vote in parliament, on a backbench bill seeking to delay Brexit, and then ejected 21 Tory rebels from the party.

“He’s been prime minister for six weeks and he promised to get Brexit sorted,” Corbyn told the Commons. “In six weeks he’s presented nothing to change the previous prime minister’s deal, which he twice voted against. These negotiations that he’s talking about are a sham. All he’s doing is running down the clock.”

Johnson repeatedly taunted the Labour leader over backing an election: “I know he’s worried about free-trade deals with America, but there’s only one chlorinated chicken that I can see in his house, and he’s on that bench.”