UK Johnson’s Brexit plans in tatters after stinging defeats

The hardline Brexit strategy of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was tattered on Thursday after a humiliating week left him without an active majority but unable to call an election.

His supporters finished a filibuster night in the House of Lords when the government stopped trying to block a measure designed to stop a Brexit without agreeing to force Johnson to seek a delay if he fails to reach an agreement with Brussels.

The opposition said they should now be able to pass the bill, which it has described as a "surrender document," before suspending parliament for more than a month next week.

"The government is committed to allowing (the bill) to complete all stages in the course of Thursday and Friday, and that the bill returns to the Commons for any additional consideration on Monday," tweeted the main Labor party of the opposition in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The House of Commons accelerated the legislation on Wednesday and then blocked Johnson's call for an early election he wants to hold on October 15.

Explainer What does the Boris Johnson movement mean to suspend the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Brexit

Labor said it will only support the instant survey once it is ensured that Johnson cannot fulfill his threat of removing Britain from the EU without any agreement before the Brexit deadline of October 31.

Parliament has now faced Johnson with a rapid series of stabbing defeats that have left him a weakened leader just six weeks after his term.

The fragmented country is still no closer to discovering how or when, or even if, it will leave the European Union more than three years after the original Brexit vote.

Johnson will also face another legal challenge on Thursday against his decision to order the suspension of parliament from next week until October 14, a measure his critics have called "coup d'etat" and "constitutional outrage."

He set the stage for the current Westminster scandal that Johnson tried to eliminate by expelling 21 of his own parliamentarians for voting with the opposition.

Among them were former finance minister Philip Hammond and the great Ken Clarke, the parliamentarian with more years of service, along with Winston Churchill's grandson, Nicholas Soames.

& # 39; Boris knows how to win & # 39;

Johnson himself will be in a campaign on Thursday while launching a national effort to recruit 20,000 police officers in Yorkshire, in northern England.

The prime minister will also receive on Thursday the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the vice president of the United States, Mike Pence.

He received the support of US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, a key international supporter.

"Boris knows how to win. Don't worry about him. He'll be fine," Trump told reporters.

Johnson has said he wants to reach an agreement with EU leaders to allow an orderly withdrawal from the bloc at the end of next month after 46 years of membership.

But the EU says it has not received any credible proposal from Britain and an important EU source poured cold water on Wednesday on the idea that an agreement could be reached at a summit in Brussels from October 17 to 18.

Government leaked evaluations say that a Brexit without agreement could cause food and fuel shortages and disrupt the vital supply of medicines.

The food and automotive sectors are particularly concerned about the high tariffs for their exports to the EU.

But the government says it will be ready for Brexit when the time comes and has intensified preparations without agreement.

The law passed by parliamentarians and debated in the House of Lords, would force the government to request a delay of three months from Brexit if it has not reached an agreement before October 19, two days after an EU summit.