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Boris Johnson has been branded a "tinpot dictator" over a promise to break the law rather than ask for an extension if Britain can't agree a deal to leave the EU.

Mr Johnson has said he would rather "die in a ditch" than go cap in hand to Brussels - despite MPs passing a law demanding he do it if no deal has been agreed by September 19.

But Shadow attorney general and Labour peer Baroness Chakrabarti branded the Government's position "extraordinary" and said the PM was behaving like "every tinpot dictator on the planet" if he thought he could defy the law.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell told the BBC: "I think we're in an extremely serious constitutional position.

"We don't believe that we can pin him down and I don't trust him an inch, and I don't think anyone does.

"We've got a Prime Minister who has said he would not abide by the law.

"We're in a situation where no-one can trust while he's in place what could happen."

It comes after a disastrous week for Mr Johnson in which he lost his majority, his first four Commons votes, his bid for a general election and the support of his brother and then senior Cabinet minister Amber Rudd who dramatically quit.

The PM tomorrow faces another humiliating Commons defeat as MPs again reject his calls for a general election - and the prospect of yet more Tory civil war with more resignations from anxious Tory MPs who fear he has no plans for a fresh Brexit deal.

Baroness Chakrabarti told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday: "I think the position is irresponsible and elitist, the idea there's one law for Boris Johnson and his mates and another law for everyone else, it's appalling."

She added: "Every tinpot dictator on the planet throughout history has used the excuse of having the people on their side to break the law to shut down Parliament and all the rest of it, it's absolutely extraordinary and I think it's very un-British, as was the purge of the 21 MPs, who are Conservatives, they're not secret Corbynistas."

She went on: "The legislation is crystal clear, if you don't have a deal in the next few weeks you have to apply for the extension, it's a duty that's laid in the legislation on the Prime Minister personally."

Earlier Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the government would obey the law - but first, it was going to challenge it in the courts to try and wriggle free from Parliament's demands.

(Image: Sky News) (Image: Getty Images)

He said: "We're always going to behave lawfully as a Government, of course, you'd expect that and anyway it will be challenged in the courts, but what we are going to do with that legislation is tested very carefully what it does and doesn't require, and

that's not only the lawful thing to do, I think it's the responsible thing to do."

The Prime Minister will try to agree a new deal with Brussels at a summit on October 17 but should he fail he will then reportedly refuse to comply with the so-called Benn Act passed by Parliament last week.

But Mr Johnson has repeatedly promised to break the law in a move which Downing Street believes would guarantee an immediate judicial review in the Supreme Court with the fate of Brexit placed in the hands of judges just days before the October 31 deadline.

(Image: Canadian Press/REX)

Former Director of Public Prosecutions Lord MacDonald said yesterday that it could see the PM ­arrested and imprisoned.

Chancellor Sajid Javid appeared to suggest the government would and would not break the law in a confusing interview on the BBC.

Mr Javid told Andrew Marr to "wait and see" when questioned about an incoming law to block a no-deal Brexit.

He said: "Of course this government will obey the law. We are going to continue to work towards exit on October 31. We will leave on October 31.

"We will work for a deal, we will keep putting all our effort into that and preparations for no-deal just in case that is the only way we can leave.

Mr Javid said Boris Johnson "absolutely will not" ask for an extension in an October council meeting with the EU.

He continued: "We will not change our policy, we will have to wait and see."