12:34

I’ve just come back from the twice-daily lobby briefing, with the PM’s official spokesman.

He offered little in the way of defence of Johnson’s refusal to attend this morning’s planned appearance before the House of Commons liaison committee, which infuriated its chair, Sarah Wollaston.

Sarah Wollaston MP (@sarahwollaston) Seriously concerned about the example that has been set by the PM (& his Chief of Staff Cummings who was found in contempt for refusing to face scrutiny). Select Committees cannot hold the powerful to account if they refuse to come or unreasonably delay

Asked what Johnson was doing that was so important, he said: “Throughout the course of the morning the PM has been holding meetings with members of his team and with members of his cabinet,” adding, “since taking office he has spent 14 hours at the dispatch box taking questions from colleagues across the house”.

That has only included two sessions of PMQs, of course – and that belligerent late-night session after the supreme court struck down his prorogation, during which he suggested to MPs the best way to honour their murdered colleague Jo Cox was to “get Brexit done”.

As for whether Johnson will ask parliament to support a general election in the coming days, his spokesman suggested he was awaiting the response of the EU27 to the letter sent on Saturday, requesting a Brexit extension.

And he appeared to concede that the 31 October “do or die” deadline looked out of reach, saying: “That is absolutely what the PM wants to achieve, but at the same time we have to recognise the fact that parliament has handed control of the timetable to the EU.”

Since parliament is not sitting tomorrow, the government would have to lay a motion under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act before the end of today’s sitting if it were to be voted on by MPs on Monday.

Alternatively, they could await the EU’s response, and then table a motion on Monday, with a vote then held on Tuesday.