Brexit: Boris Johnson threatens MPs with exclusion from Tory faction

There are clear cases: Conservative British MPs such as Antoinette Sandbach, who have long ago declared that they want to stand against a no-deal Brexit despite their membership in the Tory party Boris Johnsons.

Between two and four dozen other Tory MPs have so far belonged to the so-called rebels, who do not want to support the policy of the head of government, Johnson, to leave the EU on 31 October, even without an agreement with Brussels.

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Rebellin Sandbach: Then I lose my job

Since Sunday, Johnson threatens the deputies of his party with an exclusion from the faction of the Tories in the House of Commons.

Johnson and the Whips Office, remotely comparable to the leaders of a parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, said that anyone who did not support a no-deal Brexit would now be part of parliament in Westminster. Johnson would risk losing his majority in the lower house by sacking several MPs.

Gove and Johnson seem to believe in renegotiations with the EU

Sandbach now told Sky News that she was ready to lose her job to prevent a no-deal Brexit. As the news site "Buzzfeed" reports, they and other so-called rebels want to bring a legislative proposal on the way shortly. The aim should therefore be that Johnson must ask the EU for a Brexit shift if he does not negotiate a new deal until a certain date in October.

The Premier does not want to be accommodating to the rebels. A Monday scheduled meeting with the no-deal critics in their own ranks, Johnson had canceled on Sunday at short notice.

Johnson and his Brexit minister Michael Gove are confident that they can sign a new agreement with the EU. If this fails, Johnson has repeatedly stressed that he will be leaving the union without an agreement at the end of October.

The EU has been skeptical about this for months. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said last weekend that Brussels is sticking to the agreement that was signed with the British government under Theresa May. In particular, on the sensitive issue of the future EU external border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, it provides for the so-called backstop, which is intended to prevent a hard border.

Johnson and other Brexit hardliners reject the backstop. This resistance ultimately shattered the May administration because the prime minister in parliament did not find a majority for her deal with the EU and ultimately resigned as prime minister and party chair.