October 19, 2019

British Parliament Hands Boris Johnson Another Brexit Blow. Everything Is Still Chaos.

The Prime Minister is essentially vowing to ignore parliament.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

In Parliament’s first Saturday session since the Falklands war—dubbed, questionably, “Super Saturday”—Democratic Unionists from Ireland ensured the passage of the Letwin amendment to trigger a Brexit extension request required by the Benn Act. Confused? Me too. Read on.

Heading into the session, Prime Minister Boris Johnson needed the parliament to provide a “meaningful vote” in favor of his Brexit plan before an 11 P.M. deadline on Saturday. Without that support, legislation known as the Benn Act requires Johnson to ask the European Union to push the deadline for leaving the EU back from October 31 to January 31. That’s not what Johnson wants. He has staked his whole prime ministership on getting it done by the end of the month.

The House of Commons rebuffed Johnson on Saturday. In a 322-306 vote, it passed an amendment forcing Johnson to bring the Brexit withdrawal deal he hammered out with Brussels last week before them. Basically: No Brexit, until the parliament can vote on the whole thing.

Outside Parliament, streets were filled with demonstrators who oppose Johnson:

In typical fashion, Johnson is saying he won’t play by the rules—pledging he would not request an extension from EU leaders. “I will not negotiate a delay with the EU,” he said, “and neither does the law compel me to do so.”

Today’s vote could mean a mind-numbing number of new steps to pass the deal, presenting a race against time: EU leaders would need to return to Brussels to approve any new extension. Then there are the UK parliament’s own maneuvers that could continue to stymy the prime minister. And when the House of Commons does take up the deal, Members of Parliament can introduce even more amendments to shape the terms of a Brexit. Read through the thread below for more on the messy mechanics of what happens next:

A simpler take away comes from Peter Bone, a member of Johnsons’ Conservative Party who voted against the Letwin amendment. “I’m fed up. It’s been a complete waste of time. Nothing’s happened and it’s spoiled my birthday,” he said in an interview. “I have to be here talking to you, rather than eating cake.”

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate