It’s not just Labour that is dithering over an early election – not all Tories want one either

Inside Westminster: Some Tory ministers believe the statesmanlike thing to do would be to work overtime to get the withdrawal agreement approved by parliament, however long it takes

Boris Johnson has died in his metaphorical ditch.

But he hoped no one would notice the government’s admission that he would break his promise to lead the UK out of the EU by 31 October. So he let off a giant firework display at the same time by proposing a general election on 12 December.

Team Boris calculated that the SNP and Liberal Democrats would take the bait, putting enormous pressure on Labour to follow suit. Johnson needs the votes of almost 150 opposition MPs to secure the 434 votes required by the Fixed-term Parliaments Act to trigger an election.