Boris Johnson told Conservative peers to stand down and shelve attempts to block a bill aimed at taking no deal Brexit off the table. An alliance of Remainer MPs presented the European Union (Withdrawal) (no.6) in the Commons earlier this week and succeeded in defeating the Government by 327 to 299 in a crucial vote on Wednesday evening. But Liberal Democrat peer Richard Newby suggested the decision to call off the filibuster is part of a new strategy aimed at “trapping” Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn into a general election. 

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lord Newby said: “It seems to me they are trying to bait a trap for Corbyn.

“That trap is, ok, the bill will now go through, ‘you said if this goes through, you’ll vote for an election.’ That may have been on the mind.”

Mr Corbyn signalled Labour would not back motions to hold a new general election unless the bill becomes law. The legislation would force the Prime Minister to request a new extension to the Brexit deadline until January 31, 2020.

The Lib Dem peer however also claimed the Government chose to stand down to avoid further clashes with the House of Lords in the future.

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He continued: “There’s a degree of confusion and anger in the Lords, very considerable, and they’ve got to carry working with the Lords after.

“The reason the deal was done is that we’d won a whole raft of votes by over 150. We could have had another 150 votes – could have taken us 48 hours or more.

“I think there was a realisation from those on the other side that this was more than stupid. And they were looking stupid and we needed to find a way forward.”

Following his defeat in the Commons, Mr Johnson sought to secure a two-thirds majority to call a snap election on October 15 but was thwarted as Labour abstained from the vote.

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The Prime Minister mocked Mr Corbyn as “frit” and insisted Labour’s opposition to a poll was “unsustainable”.

Mr Johnson is expected to try again to get MPs to let him go to the country on October 15 to let the voters choose who will ultimately conclude the Brexit negotiations.

The Labour leader last night claimed he would only back an election if the Bill is passed by the House of Lords and goes onto the statute book.

Mr Corbyn said: ”Let the Bill pass and have Royal Assent and then we can have a general election,”

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Responding to the vote last night, Mr Johnson said Mr Corbyn was “the first opposition leader in the democratic history of our country to refuse the invitation to an election.”

Mr Johnson said: “I can only speculate as to the reasons behind his decision. The obvious conclusion is that he does not think he will win.”

Signalling he could seek a further vote to force an election, he continued: “I urge his colleagues to reflect on what I think is the unsustainability of this position overnight and in the course of the next few days.”

The Prime Minister attempted to activate the Fixed-Term Parliament Act, the legislation that governs the calling of general elections, in response to the cross-party move to seize control of parliamentary business, outlaw a no-deal Brexit and force him to beg Brussels for a further delay to the UK’s departure from the EU.

The British Government branded the move a bid to “destroy” their negotiating position. Mr Johnson said he was reluctantly calling an election to end the deadlock between the 2016 popular vote to leave the EU and the current Remain-dominated Parliament.

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