Boris Johnson is nothing if not a gambler. He stood for the leadership of the Conservative Party on a clear and unambiguous pledge to deliver Brexit by October 31, stating that he would rather “die in a ditch” than fail. He repeated that pledge outside Downing Street on the day he took over as prime minister, promising that Britain would leave the EU on October 31 “do or die”. On Monday he finally had to acknowledge that he would miss the deadline. That had become obvious last week when parliament voted by a comfortable majority of 30 on the second reading of his Brexit deal but refused to accept the compressed timetable to complete its ratification. Yet to the bafflement of many on his own