RTThu, 05 Sep 2019 17:24 UTC
© Reuters/Danny LawsonBritain's PM Boris Johnson visits West Yorkshire Police Training and Development Centre on September 5, 2019.
The British prime minister said he would never ask the EU for an extension of the Brexit deadline - he'd rather "be dead in a ditch" instead.
Meanwhile, parliament is close to forcing him to go to Brussels.The remarks were delivered by Boris Johnson on Thursday during a speech after his visit to a police training center in West Yorkshire. When asked by a reporter if he could promise the British public he would never go to Brussels to ask for a new Brexit delay, Johnson replied affirmatively, and emphatically added that he "would rather be dead in a ditch."
While the PM was apparently adamant in his refusal to kowtow to the European Union, he managed to dodge a direct question from a reporter asking if he would resign rather than request the Brexit prolongation. Instead, the Tory bigwig simply reiterated his calls to
"get Brexit done" and said that
any delays would be "totally pointless.""It achieves absolutely nothing. What on earth is the point of further delay?" he added.
It was not immediately clear how Johnson plans to deliver on his bold promise, given the string of defeats he has suffered, which resulted in the
loss of the parliament majority and the adoption of a bill that actually obliges him to go and seek a new three-month extension to prolong the Brexit process.
During Tuesday's Commons debates,
Johnson vowed to "obey the law" when it comes to the bill, so once the formalities are settled he will likely be forced to go to Brussels - or be "dead in a ditch" - if he's as good as his word.
Needless to say, the statement's disproportionate resoluteness promptly drew all kinds of jokers to yet again mock the British PM.
Many were not eager to take Johnson's promise at face - or any - value, bringing up his past history of making big promises and not keeping them such as his vow to prevent the third runway at Heathrow airport from ever getting constructed, issued during his time as London's mayor.
Johnson ran away from voting on the issue back in 2018, while the latest monstrous plan of the airport expansion was unveiled earlier this year.
Apart from the ditch remark, many were irked by another prime-ministerial gaffe from the event.
During his speech a policewoman standing right behind him collapsed, while Johnson joked about it and said it was a signal for him to "wind up."
Comment: More from
RT, 6/9/2019: Finnish PM: No-deal Brexit 'pretty obvious now'
The Prime Minister of Finland, which currently holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union, claims that it is "pretty obvious now" that Britain will crash out of the bloc without a deal.
Addressing reporters at a news conference in Helsinki on Friday, Finnish PM Antti Rinne delivered a sobering assessment of the intractable Brexit crisis, with under two months left until deadline day, October 31.
"The situation in Britain is quite a mess now, we don't know what is happening there. It seems pretty obvious now that we are not getting Brexit with the agreement."
The pessimistic tone from Rinne puts him at odds with UK PM Boris Johnson who insisted, in a statement given outside 10 Downing street on Monday, that "progress" was being made in Brexit talks."In the last few weeks the chances of a deal have been rising," Johnson claimed.
A new bill, which forces the UK prime minister to seek a 3-month extension to Article 50 from Brussels, goes to the House of Lords on Friday and is expected to become law on Monday.
In addition from
RT, 6/9/2019: British opposition parties agree to vote down BoJo's demand for snap poll
Jeremy Corbyn's Labour and other opposition parties have agreed to reject UK PM Boris Johnson's bid for a general election before the EU summit in October.
Johnson's government is scheduled to table a second early election motion on Monday having failed to achieve the necessary support this week for a snap poll.
However, after holding a meeting on Friday morning, opposition parties, including Labour, the Scottish National Party, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, and the Green Party, revealed that they were united in opposing such a move.
During an interview with BBC News, the SNP's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, insisted that Johnson wasn't "going to determine the time" of a general election. A defiant Blackford suggested that the prime minister was "trying to frustrate the will of Parliament... we will choose the timing of that election."
Responding to the announcement, the British PM claimed that the parties were making an "extraordinary political mistake."
"All I see is Corbyn and the SNP clubbing together to try and lock us into the EU when it's time to get this thing done," Johnson said.
Opposition parties want to make sure Johnson upholds the latest piece of legislation that should pass into law on Monday, which compels the PM to secure a delay to Brexit by seeking a 3-month extension to Article 50 from Brussels.
Comment: More from RT, 6/9/2019: Finnish PM: No-deal Brexit 'pretty obvious now' In addition from RT, 6/9/2019: British opposition parties agree to vote down BoJo's demand for snap poll