Ever since Mr. Johnson became prime minister this summer the question facing him has been whether his ambitions — that is, winning five more years in Downing Street — are best served by delivering Brexit and then pushing for an election as the man who succeeded, or whether it would be safer to go for an election with Brexit still a conveniently mythical destination, open to many comforting and contradictory interpretations.

Over the past week, ever since Parliament started debate on Mr. Johnson’s deal, but then made clear that it would use its power to amend it substantially, his closest advisers have been utterly split on the best strategy. Some want to do what the government promised and get Brexit agreed to first, even if it means compromise. The voters, they argue, will reward the Conservative Party even if they think the deal imperfect.

Mr. Johnson has chosen, instead, to respond with deadlines and threats.

On the one hand, it’s important to recognize this demand for an election as the piece of political theater that it is. It’s intended both to reinforce the myth Mr. Johnson’s been building — that he’s the person willing and able to deliver Brexit, and the only reason he can’t deliver it is the obstinacy of Parliament or the Europeans standing in his way — and to distract from his own failures.

The two core pledges of his leadership — that he’d get Britain out of Europe by the end of October, and that he would never request an extension — have been shamelessly reversed this week. The reason his deal is in trouble in Parliament is not general recalcitrance, but the fact that the minute the members have the time to examine it, the fragile coalition that might vote for it dissolves, as both the right wing, the moderates and the opposition rebels will find elements of it they cannot support.

So, yes, the demand for an election is a diversion.

On the other hand, to see it only as theater is to miss something crucial: The fight over whether to hold an election before or after Brexit is about more than what gives Mr. Johnson the better chance of winning. It is, as a senior Tory said grimly to me, a battle for the soul of the Conservative Party, and over the nature of British politics.