The torture chamber: how opposition MPs plan to humiliate Boris

When Jeremy Corbyn declared at Labour conference that his party would only allow an election once no deal had been taken off the table, MPs began to wonder if it could be put off until the new year. The Prime Minister’s tormentors can’t agree when exactly they would like to go to the country, but all agree that there are plenty of ways to torture Boris Johnson. It’s as good a way as any to pass the time.

The Tories no longer have a working majority, so these opposition MPs — aided by activist Speaker John Bercow — now hold the power. What will they do? Well, the Conservatives are meant to be gathering in Manchester this weekend for their annual meeting. However, opposition MPs plan to vote against any conference recess. They will have the support of the majority of those Tory rebels who had the whip withdrawn over Brexit. ‘It would look a bit odd to have parliament returned and then for it to vote to leave again,’ explains one person who is privy to the plans. If they succeed, expect to see a slimmed-down ‘people’s conference’, with ministers ferried from Westminster to Manchester for limited appearances.

Next: plans to scrutinise the Johnson government over its handling of both Brexit and prorogation. MPs could use urgent questions and humble addresses to force the government to reveal its legal advice as well as more details of Project Yellowhammer — the government’s worst-case scenarios for no deal. ‘Where there’s an opportunity to embarrass the government over its no-deal planning, we will take it,’ says one gung-ho MP.

One of the things making pro-EU MPs anxious is No. 10’s insistence that they have found a way around Hilary Benn’s anti-no deal legislation which passed earlier this month.