Jeremy Corbyn told the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme host that it would be appropriate to trigger a vote of no confidence in Prime MinisterBoris Johnson only when a no deal Brexit has clearly been averted. The Labour leader said his priority was averting a no deal Brexit with legislation and only when that was clear would he be ready to trigger a vote of no confidence. He said he would be happy to have an election once no-deal Brexit had been averted. He said: “Quite simply our first priority is to prevent a no-deal exit from the EU. At that point, it would be appropriate to move a vote of no confidence to force the prime minister to resign.”

But the Labour leader was confronted on his losing strategy aimed at ousting the Prime Minister. The BBC host said: “Isn’t it the simple truth that you don’t have the votes and you know that if you put forward the motion of no confidence you’d lose it because many of the independent Conservative MPs like David Gauke have said that they wouldn’t support you in that motion?”

She added: “The accusation is that the reason you don’t want to call a general election now is that you are scared of having a general election if you look at what’s happening in the opinion polls.

“There are open divisions in your party, there have been accusations of anti-Semitism. Your own ratings have dropped massively since 2017, they’re minus 16 now.”

Mr Corbyn claimed he was “very happy” to have a general election once the EU has granted an extension to the Brexit process.

I’m very happy to have a general election when we’ve taken no deal off the table

Jeremy Corbyn

Mr Corbyn denied he had been preparing to announce a no-confidence motion in his party conference speech on Tuesday.

The Labour leader also called on the Prime Minister to apologise to both the Queen and the British public.

The Islington North MP said: “He clearly has abused the power he has in the royal prerogative and attempted to close down Parliament.

“Thanks to the Supreme Court, we now have Parliament meeting again today and we will once again be able to question the Government in what it is actually doing in taking us out of the EU without a deal, with all the damage that will do to people’s jobs and livelihoods.

“I think he should apologise to her (the Queen) for the advice he gave her but, more importantly, apologise to the British people for what he’s done in trying to shut down our democracy at a very crucial time when people are very, very worried about what will happen on October 31.”

He told the BBC: “You must have seen a version of the conference speech that by-passed me because it was never in any conference speech.”

It comes as the Supreme Court ruled the Prime Minister’s decision to prorogue Parliament was unlawful.

Parliament will resume on Wednesday as instructed by House of Commons speaker John Bercow following the Supreme Court decision.

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Announcing the result, the court’s president Lady Hale said the Government’s advice to the Queen to prorogue Parliament was unlawful because “it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions without reasonable justification”.

She said the prolonged suspension of parliamentary democracy took place in the “quite exceptional circumstances” of the UK’s impending exit from the EU on October 31.

Lady Hale added: “Parliament, and in particular, the House of Commons as the elected representatives of the people has a right to a voice in how that change comes about.

“The effect upon the fundamentals of our democracy was extreme.”

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