Boris Johnson stripped of his working majority and lost commons vote 328 to 301

Boris Johnson stripped off his working majority in the battle of control of House of Commons yesterday, as MPs opposed to a no-deal Brexit fought to wrest control of the Parliamentary agenda from the Prime minister, after former minister Phillip Lee defected to the Liberal Democrats and 20 Conservative rebels voted with the opposition parties to introduce legislation to force a further Brexit delay.

He has threatened to call a snap general election on October 14, If last night’s vote on blocking a no-deal Brexit is carried. “ There is only one way to describe this deal. It is Jeremy Corbyn’s surrender bill. It means running up the white flag and I want to make it clear to everyone in this House that there are no circumstances in which I will accept anything like it.” The prime minister further said the result of the vote means parliament is on the brink of “ wrecking any deal” with Brussels.

The commons voted 328 to 301 to take control of the agenda, meaning thy can bring forward a bill seeking to delay the UK’s exit date beyond 31 October 2019.

Sterling fell as much as 0.8 per cent to $1.97, reaching similar low levels after the 2016 EU referendum, When it tumbled 9 per cent against  the dollar before quickly rebounding. The rebels have been threatened with deselection if they voted against the government.