JUDY WOODRUFF: We return now to London and the showdown between the prime minister and
Parliament over Brexit.
As special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports, with less than two months until the Brexit
deadline to leave the European Union, the course ahead for the United Kingdom remains
no clearer.
MALCOLM BRABANT: The mood in Parliament was spikier than usual for Boris Johnson's first
ever question time as prime minister.
MAN: Order.
It's order, order.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Despite losing his parliamentary majority and being torpedoed by an internal
party rebellion, Johnson adhered to his Brexit mantra.
BORIS JOHNSON, British Prime Minister: Well, this government will take this country out
of the European Union on October the 31st.
MALCOLM BRABANT: But the pledge had a hollow ring.
Johnson's Conservative Party has been torn apart.
The new prime minister kicked out 21 lawmakers who ignored his pleas to support the government.
They rebelled by backing an opposition Labor Party bill designed to prevent Britain from
leaving the E.U. without a deal.
Johnson lambasted what he called this surrender bill.
BORIS JOHNSON: Mr. Speaker, let us be absolutely clear.
This government is going to get a deal from our friends in Brussels.
And we will get the backstop out.
We will get an agreement which I think this House could approve.
The only thing that is standing in our way is the undermining of those negotiations by
this surrender bill, which would lead to more dither and delay.
MALCOLM BRABANT: But Labor Leader Jeremy Corbyn made it clear he didn't believe the prime
minister.
JEREMY CORBYN, Leader, Labor Party: These negotiations that he talks about are a sham.
All he's doing is running down the clock.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Johnson accused Corbyn of undermining Britain's negotiating position
and of being scared of a general election.
BORIS JOHNSON: There's only one chlorinated chicken that I can see in this House, and
he's on that bench.
MALCOLM BRABANT: But Corbyn was in a feisty mood.
JEREMY CORBYN: Yesterday, he lost one vote, his first vote in Parliament.
He now wants to dissolve Parliament.
He's desperate, absolutely desperate to avoid scrutiny.
MALCOLM BRABANT: After question time, the House began debating the Labor Party bill.
One of the most poignant speeches came from a rebel sacked by Johnson, Sir Nicholas Soames,
the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill.
SIR NICHOLAS SOAMES, British Parliament Member: Mr, Speaker, I'm not standing on the next
election, and I am thus approaching the end of 37 years service to this House, of which
I have been proud and honored beyond words to be a member.
I'm truly very sad that it should end in this way.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Outside Parliament, hard-line Conservative Brexiteer Nigel Evans had this
reaction.
NIGEL EVANS, British Parliament Member: It's not as if they didn't know the consequences.
It was explained to them beforehand.
And so they knew what they were doing.
MALCOLM BRABANT: European Union expert Professor Catherine Barnard believes Johnson's brutal
cull could be a self-inflicted wound that will reduce his chances of leaving the E.U.
on time.
®MD-BO¯CATHERINE BARNARD, Trinity College Cambridge: After three years of Theresa May,
who's not been able to deliver Brexit, it was quite clear that there was a need for
a different approach.
And the different approach is to come in all guns blazing and say, we're going to deliver
this come what may.
So, it's tone, rather than substance.
But the tone has clearly backfired rather badly.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Former Labor Cabinet Minister Chris Bryant believes Britain is now in an
impossible mess.
CHRIS BRYANT, British Parliament Member: It feels as if the country can't make its mind
up on anything.
Parliament certainly can't.
We're badly led by the prime minister.
And I don't know how we're going to get out of it.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Outside Parliament, Brexit supporter David Cooper was looking worried.
DAVID COOPER, Brexit Supporter: Well, I think it will happen.
I think it has to happen, because the English people, the British people want it to happen.
We voted to leave.
We had a referendum.
And we should be leaving.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Labor M.P.
Tan Dhesi was upset with Johnson for disparaging Muslim women earlier this year, and his disdain
has grown over the past few days.
TAN DHESI, British Parliament Member: We have minimal trust in this prime minister.
I think many of his own colleagues, his own M.P.s don't look to him.
So, how can we look to him to unite us across the chamber in terms of the opposition parties?
And how can we entrust him to unite our fractured society, our fractured country?
PROTESTERS: Brexit now!
Brexit now!
MALCOLM BRABANT: On the green outside Parliament, rival factions kept up their chants.
There's a sense here that the debate is becoming more raucous and impolite.
Nigel Evans:
NIGEL EVANS: He says, stop the coup.
You hear that?
Stop the coup.
The real coup is against the British people who voted in 2016 to leave the European Union.
And people like him just simply can't accept it.
MALCOLM BRABANT: And this is Steve Bray, who has been outside Parliament for the past two
years yelling "Stop Brexit" at every passing politician.
STEVE BRAY, Brexit Opponent: And Brexit is in freefall.
Last night was another nail in the coffin.
And this is the end of Brexit.
We're never leaving the European Union.
Boris Johnson said, October 31, do or die.
November the 1st, big funeral.
MALCOLM BRABANT: It's not clear if such optimism is justified.
But those hopes were certainly bolstered tonight, as, with the support of the now sacked rebel
Conservatives, the Labor Party passed that crucial bill.
Deeply frustrated by Parliament, Johnson said the only option was a general election as
soon as possible.
BORIS JOHNSON: In my view, and the view of this government, there must now be an election
on Tuesday, the 15th of October.
MALCOLM BRABANT: A short time ago, his bad day got worse.
He lost that vote as well.
There are, however, several other ways of trying to trigger an election.
Boris Johnson really needs a Hail Mary pass if he's to fulfill his commitment to leave
the European Union on October the 31st.
He's gambling on a general election.
Political analysts here believe that, if he should win such an election, he may try to
repeal the bill that was passed tonight.
But the feeling here is that he may have damaged his election prospects by exiling some of
the heavyweights of the Conservative Party.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Malcolm Brabant in London.