One dog slipped into the British White House today; new PM Johnson got himself a cute pound Jack Russel puppy named Dilyn.
Meanwhile, his new owner seems to have dumped one of Dilyn's calling cards into the middle of the House of Commons, looking to possibly hold a new election on October 17th. The Tories has the squeakiest of majorities (one seat with the help of the small-c conservative Northern Irish DUP) but has the party's left flank looking to buck the party line and pass a resolution pushing back the Brexit deadline past October 31st.
That faction forced a move of the leave-date from mid-April to the current Halloween exit date back before the initial exit date hit, but wasn't show the door at the time. The extension didn't help.
What is being posited is to see the Conservatives kick out folks who defect and vote with the opposition tomorrow and call a new election. The Tories would need either a two-thirds majority to call a new election or a vote of no confidence that would trigger an election in order to do the latter. Both options would require Labour support, which they may or may not give.
There's an anti-no-deal majority in Parliament right now. It can't figure out what it does want but it knows it doesn't want a cold-turkey Brexit.
However, that majority might not survive a new election. The opposition party usually doesn't want to be seen saying, "no, we're good being in the minority. Let's hold off on a new election for a bit" but Labour would likely get its head handed to it at the expense of the Liberal Democrats.
The Conservatives are doing well in the polls as of late as the Remain vote gets split between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. There is also a Brexit Party wild-card that could draw votes away from the Tories as well, but if the new election were held as a de-facto referendum on Brexit, Johnson could get more BP voters than they currently have in the polls without losing much support to the Liberal Democrats.
We may see an interesting political hurricane hit London in a day or two. Interesting times for this old Poli-Sci major.
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