Robert Peston Robert Peston

Does Boris Johnson want to lose tomorrow’s vote?

To reinforce what I said about the gravity of tomorrow’s vote, rumours are swirling that Dominic Cummings – the PM’s chief aide – wants to lose (I am not persuaded!) the vote so he can purge Grieve and any other rebel Tories and then take on Corbyn’s Labour before the next EU council on 17 October.

He may now feel this the best platform to honour Boris Johnson’s pledge to leave the EU by 31 October. This is quite the game of chicken.

What is clear to me is that events will move very fast if Johnson loses tomorrow – because Johnson will not want his authority damaged by a whole week of defeats at the hands of the opposition and rebel Tories.

In a nutshell, here is the dilemma for Tory rebels and the opposition Labour Party.

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