Johnson’s future in the balance after damning court judgment

Humiliated, deflated, and entering unknown territory, British prime minister Boris Johnson has vowed to push ahead with Brexit, with any hope of an orderly exit now seemingly further away than ever.

Following the ruling by Britain’s highest court that his suspension of parliament was unlawful, there were immediate demands from UK opposition parties for Mr Johnson to quit.

However, the bruised British leader, who will face a hostile reception in the reconvened parliament this morning after being forced to fly home early from New York, said the goal now was to “get on and deliver Brexit on October 31”.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who met with Mr Johnson in New York yesterday, said he would “absolutely not” be calling for Mr Johnson’s resignation.

“I’m aware of the ruling made by the UK Supreme Court,” he said. “It is very much an internal matter for the United Kingdom. So I don’t think it would be helpful for the Irish Government to comment on it.”

Asked if he would add his voice to the growing calls for Mr Johnson to step down as leader, Mr Varadkar said: “No, absolutely not. You know, whoever is the prime minister of the United Kingdom is somebody we’re going to work with.

“It’s not us who decide who the prime minister of the UK is. That’s an appointment made by the queen based on the composition of the House of Commons.”

Speaking after meeting Mr Johnson on the fringes of the UN Summit, Mr Varadkar said there is still a “very wide gap” between the UK and EU on Brexit, but both men agreed to meet again in the “near future”.

“We got to talk about some of the detail of the withdrawal agreement and the backstop, and I think it was a good meeting in the sense that we were able to get into more detail,” he said.

“However, there is still a very wide gap between the EU and the UK in terms of achieving what we need to achieve before October.”

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson said he would abide by the finding of the Supreme Court that the five-week prorogation was “void and of no effect” — even though he disagreed with the decision.

Following the legal bombshell, House of Commons Speaker John Bercow announced that MPs would be returning to Westminster at 11.30am today.

Downing Street insisted there was no question of Mr Johnson stepping aside.

A No 10 source said: “The PM will not resign following the judgment.”

While Mr Johnson said the return of MPs would go ahead, he made clear his unhappiness with the court’s “unusual judgment”.

“I strongly disagree with this decision of the supreme court,” he told reporters.

“I have the utmost respect for our judiciary, I don’t think this was the right decision, I think that the prorogation has been used for centuries without this kind of challenge.

I think the most important thing is we get on and deliver Brexit on October 31, and clearly the claimants in this case are determined to frustrate that and to stop that.

“I think it would be very unfortunate if parliament made that objective, which the people want, more difficult — but we will get on.”

Announcing the result, the court’s president, Justice Brenda Hale said the government’s advice to Queen Elizabeth II to prorogue parliament was unlawful because “it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of parliament to carry out its constitutional functions without reasonable justification”.

She said the prolonged suspension of parliamentary democracy took place in the “quite exceptional circumstances” of the UK’s planned October 31 exit from the EU.

At the Labour Party conference in Brighton, Jeremy Corbyn said the court ruling had shown Mr Johnson’s “contempt for democracy” and his “abuse of power”.

“I invite Boris Johnson, in the historic words, to consider his position, and become the shortest-serving prime minister there’s ever been,” said Mr Corbyn.

His call was echoed by the SNP leader at Westminster Ian Blackford, who declared: “We want to get back to work. On the back of this, Boris Johnson must resign.”

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson said: “The court have found what we all knew all along — Boris Johnson has again proven he is not fit to be prime minister.”

Meanwhile, the HSE will today warn Irish politicians that the health service faces the “significant” risk of supplies of medical devices running out and of existing services being disrupted if Britain crashes out of the EU in a no-deal Brexit.