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Boris Johnson will order Parliament to shut down tonight after his Brexit strategy suffered a triple blow of setbacks.

After Commons business tonight, sittings will be suspended for five weeks, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said.

The announcement came after:

The Prime Minister was ambushed by Irish leader Leo Varadkar who publicly lectured him about the backstop and the “Herculean” task of getting a trade deal with the European Union if Britain crashes out on October 31.

Ruth Davidson launched a stinging attack on the “big risk” Mr Johnson took when he booted 21 Tory MPs out of the parliamentary party last week. Breaking her silence since she quit as Scottish Conservative leader on August 29, she writes exclusively in tonight’s Standard: “Kicking 21 Conservatives — many very senior and well known by the public — out of the party makes us less of a broad church and, in voters’ minds, less representative of the country as a whole.”

Mr Johnson’s call for a snap general election was stymied as opposition party leaders agreed in talks with Jeremy Corbyn to vote against it in a division just before the House rises for the last time until October 14. A new election date of November 28 was being mooted by MPs.

As well as confirming Parliament will be prorogued today. the Prime Minister's official spokesman said, while the Government would obey the law, Mr Johnson would not be requesting another extension of the Article 50 EU withdrawal process.

The PM’s spokesman said defiantly: “There is a simple way for MPs to resolve this: all they have to do is vote for an election today so the British public can decide whether they want to get Brexit done on October 31.

“The PM is very clear that he will take this country out of the EU on October 31st — no ifs or buts. He will not sanction anymore pointless delays. The PM is not going to seek an extension [to Article 50].” Labour leader Mr Corbyn called prorogation “disgraceful” and accused the PM of “running away from questions”.

The news come ahead of MPs also debating a petition, which was signed more than a million times, calling for Parliament to not be prorogued.

The Prime Minister requested last month that the Queen allow such a suspension, from a date this week until October 14, when a new Parliamentary session will be opened with a Queen's Speech.

The plan to suspend Parliament has sparked backlash since it was revealed.

However, the Prime Minister previously called it "completely untrue" to suggest Brexit was the reason for his decision, insisting he needs a Queen's Speech to set out a "very exciting agenda" of domestic policy.

It came after Mr Johnson met Ireland's Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dublin.

Mr Varadkar said he believed a no-deal Brexit is possible, and would cause severe disruption for British and Irish people alike.

"The people of this island, North and South, need to know that their livelihoods, their security and their sense of identity will not be put at risk as a consequence of a hard Brexit," he told Mr Johnson during the press conference.

"The stakes are high.

"Avoiding the return of a hard border on this island and protecting our place in the single market are the Irish Government's priorities in all circumstances."

Meanwhile, opposition leaders agreed not to back Boris Johnson's bid to secure a general election, Labour has said.

A party spokeswoman said: "Jeremy Corbyn hosted a meeting with opposition party leaders this morning. They agreed to work together today to hold the Government to account in Parliament.

"All leaders agreed that they would not support Boris Johnson's ploy to deny the people their decision by crashing us out of the EU with no deal during a general election campaign."

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said his MPs will reject the PM's call for an early general election until a no-deal Brexit is no longer a possibility.

After meeting with opposition leaders, Mr Blackford said: "It is clear there must be an early election - but it cannot happen while the Tory Government is threatening to subvert the law to force through a catastrophic no-deal Brexit on October 31.

"If Boris Johnson wants an election he must obey the law and take a no-deal Brexit off the table. It is beyond belief that the Prime Minister is disrespecting democracy by seeking to shut down Parliament and railroad through an extreme Brexit against the will of parliament and the people.

"Once the threat of no-deal is off the table, we will move for an early election."

The Lib Dems also confirmed they will vote against the PM's bid to force an early general election.

After attending a meeting with opposition leaders, Brexit spokesman Tom Brake told the PA news agency: "We were absolutely rock solid on rejecting out-of-hand Boris Johnson's attempt to cut and run with a general election.

"There's absolutely no way we will let him do that before he's secured an extension.

"We've put in place all of the counter-measures that we think might be necessary depending on what tricks and subterfuge that Boris Johnson may still have to hand or seek to deploy."