Boris Johnson has repeatedly refused to rule out proroguing parliament to try to push through his Brexit policy.

Pressed repeatedly at a press conference at the end of the G7 summit about what he would do if MPs tried to thwart his policy, the British prime minister declined to rule out shutting down parliament.

“I think that this really is a matter for parliamentarians to get right ourselves,” he said. “We asked the people to vote on whether they wanted to stay in or leave the EU; they voted to leave by a big majority.”

“I think people have just about had enough of this conversation, and I think they’re yearning for the moment when Brexit comes off the front pages of the national papers, and that will only happen when we come out of the EU on 31 October, and that is what I am calling on all my fellow MPs to do.”

Asked again what steps he would take if MPs try to force his hand, he said: “I think that it’s the job of every MP in parliament to get this thing done – and and by the way it’s what our friends and partners on the other side of the Channel want.”

And asked explicitly about whether he would consider proroguing parliament, he said: “I rely on parliamentarians to do the right thing and honour the pledge that they made to the people of this country.”

Johnson said he was “marginally more optimistic” about the prospects for a deal after the weekend in the French seaside resort, but added: “Remember any statistical estimates I give, whether that’s expressed in odds of a million to one, or whatever, they all depend exclusively on the willingness of our friends and partners to compromise on that crucial point, and get rid of the backstop.”

Johnson has avoided fresh bust-ups with EU leaders at the summit, and Downing Street was encouraged that the European council president, Donald Tusk, agreed to meet him again on the margins of the UN general assembly in Paris next month.

He said: “They are very enthusiastic about getting on with the future. They regard Brexit now as an encumbrance – an old argument.

“My job is to make our case – and you know what our case is, that the backstop is anti-democratic: it keeps us locked in the EU’s customs arrangements; it keeps us locked in the EU’s legal order, without the opportunity to influence those things. It’s got to come out. It’s got to change. I’ve made that point very, very clearly to our friends and I think that point has landed – so let’s now see where we get.”

He added: “I hope that friends and colleagues in parliament will be supportive of our efforts to get this thing done.”

Q&A What is the G7? Show Hide Meeting regularly since 1976, the G7 is made up of seven countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. Between them, the countries represent around half of the world’s GDP, and the group’s main purpose is to provide a forum for discussing world economic stability. The first meetings grew out of a series of summits to deal with the 1973 oil crisis. G7 summits take place annually, with the host nation rotating between the members. Summits are usually attended by leaders, finance ministers and central bank governors. As well as the seven nations, the meetings are also usually attended by leaders from the European Union, and representatives from international financial institutions including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. As well as the high-profile summits, the finance ministers from the G7 also meet on a regular basis several times a year. Between 1998 and 2014 the grouping was known as the G8, and also included Russia among its members. However, Russia was expelled in 2014 following the annexation of Crimea.

Martin Belam

He also declined to express confidence in John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, ahead of a likely parliamentary showdown over Brexit. Bercow has drawn fire from a number of Eurosceptic Conservative MPs over his handling of Brexit issues in the Commons. Johnson said it was not the PM’s role to comment on the performance of the Speaker.

But in what is likely to be seen by some as a thinly veiled swipe at Bercow, Johnson then called on all parliamentarians to respect the will of voters on Brexit.

But the prime minister was full of praise for England cricketer Ben Stokes who secured an unlikely victory for his team against Australia in the the third Ashes Test on Sunday. Describing Stokes’s perfomance Johnson said: “I thought it was one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever seen, the shots are saw were absolutely incredible.

“I think I’ve already promised that Ben Stokes should get a dukedom, so I can’t go any higher than that. Clearly it’s not a matter for me.

“There’s some honours committee or other and I am sure they will take the appropriate decision in due course.”

Earlier Donald Trump warned that Johnson faces a tough challenge in renegotiating the Brexit deal with EU27 leaders.

Trump was speaking at a long press conference, at which he also tackled issues including Russia’s readmission to the G7, the trade war with China, and the economic potential of North Korea.

Trump showered praise on Johnson, saying he had been waiting six years for Boris Johnson to become prime minister, and asked him at this weekend’s G7 summit: “What took you so long?”

Asked if he thought Johnson’s predecessor had not been the right person for the job, Trump described Theresa May as “a very, very good person and a good woman”.

But he said May had decided not to take his advice – which May has said was to threaten to sue the EU27. “She chose to do it her way and that didn’t work out so well,” the US president said.