Boris Johnson suffers historic brexit defeat

A coalition of opposition and Conservative lawmakers are attempting to pass legislation to prevent Britain from crashing out of the European Union with no deal on Oct. 31.

The prime minister insists such a law would undermine negotiations with the bloc.

The bill was voted through the House of Commons, effectively Britain’s lower chamber, with the help of 22 MPs from the ruling Conservative party who voted against the government.

Among the rebels was veteran MP Nicholas Soames.

“[The bill] merely seeks to avert the immediate risks of a disaster of a no Brexit exit on the 31st of October and it thereby seeks to give the government and this House a further opportunity to achieve a resolution of this profoundly difficult issue,” Soames told fellow MPs during the debate.

Soames, the grandson of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, was among the 21 Conservative MPs effectively thrown out of the party for voting against the government.