Just three weeks before the United Kingdom is set to leave the European Union, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing a possible rebellion in his own ranks if no deal is reached, media reported Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th October, 2019) Just three weeks before the United Kingdom is set to leave the European Union, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing a possible rebellion in his own ranks if no deal is reached, media reported Wednesday.
Five ministers and a "very large number" of Conservative members of parliament are said to be under "resignation watch list", according to unnamed sources cited by The Times.
The editorial in The Times comes after Downing Street (Prime Minister's office) said that a Brexit deal was "essentially impossible" following a telephone conversation between Johnson and de facto EU leader, German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Media reported Tuesday that Downing Street accused Merkel of making unacceptable demands, to which Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, responded in a tweet saying "not winning some stupid blame game" is at stake but the future of Europe and the United Kingdom.
The issue of Northern Ireland's status and borders following Brexit remains the flash-point of the UK-EU standoff. The Times reports that a return of direct rule in Northern Ireland would be the trigger for some cabinet ministers to quit. Direct rule, as the name suggests, is when the UK government takes direct control of Northern Ireland in emergency cases, widely seen as a canary in the coalmine for instability or crises.
Conservatives in parliament have rebelled against Boris Johnson previously when in September, twenty-one Tory MPs voted in favor of the Benn act which would force Johnson to delay Brexit if no deal is reached.
