Drama in Parliament as No Deal Brexit looms. What next?

Johnson's plan all along - Power > Brexit?

So lots of drama in Parliament last night. It is like being back in 1886 or 1846 - both previous realigning moments. The question of course is what happens now? My personal strong suspicion is that all of this is planned and that the government has privately been planning for a General Election in mid-October ever since Boris Johnson became PM - as soon as I saw the make up of the Cabinet and heard about Dominic Cummings, I predicted that that was where we were headed. I think the prorogation was designed to provoke people and flush out the rebels in the Conservative Party. It's done that.

Is a General Election viable?

What now? After all the noise they made the government can't just say "oh ok then. pass your Bill" so they will make it as difficult as possible. However it's in their interests for the Bill to pass so that they can then get a GE. If they kill it then the chances of a temporary 'stop Brexit' caretaker government being formed are very high. I think that after last night the LibDems and rebel Tories would be prepared to accept Corbyn as temporary PM. It's a GE that the government needs and imo have clearly been planning for over the Summer. So I think the Bill will pass after a lot of dramatics - these will be intended to further polarise opinion and wind up both sides.

The opposition must be tempted now to still refuse to support a GE in those circumstances and try to put together a temporary government following a VoNC. I don't think they will be able to - mainly because the SNP is very keen on a GE and once they are sure Brexit cannot take place during an election they will refuse to support a caretaker government. I think Plaid will also take that view as will CUK and most of the rebel Tories. So I think we are going to have a GE. Because it will be held about two weeks before the deadline it will be very difficult for Labour to do what they did last time and move the conversation away from Brexit. What they can try to do is to talk about other issues in the context of Brexit - something like "Look, the reason why we have had this mess is because of neoliberalism, we need a radical left government to sort it out etc" but that will be difficult.

More Chaos, Disruption, Fear and Uncertainty

As things stand, the most likely outcome is another hung Parliament, which means more deadlock and chaos. The prospect of that may help the Conservatives but the electoral system is now working against stable outcomes and makes predicting anything very difficult.

There are also moves as a last ditch measure to have the Speaker be given the power to request an extension from the EU on the back of a Parliamentary vote requesting one. I am aware that doesn't conform to the Lisbon Treaty procedure but would you bet against the EU granting such a request?