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British PM Johnson Suffers Historic Brexit Defeats as Election Looms

Henry Ridgwell

   LONDON - Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a series of
   damaging defeats Wednesday over the government's policy on leaving the
   European Union.

   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.

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