Trump throws his weight behind Boris ahead of historic Brexit vote – ‘Knows how to win!’

The US President claimed to be a “friend” of the Prime Minister’s and told reporters not to “worry” about Boris Johnson‘s chances of succeeding in his historic vote this evening. The Prime Minister suffered his first-ever parliamentary defeat on Tuesday night when 21 Tory MPs joined the opposition to give Parliament control of the parliamentary agenda. Donald Trumpclaimed to have “watched” Boris Johnson’s PMQs performance and sounded confident in the success of the British Prime Minister.

He said: “Boris is a friend of mine and he’s…he’s going at it. There’s no question about it.

“I watched him this morning, he’s in there fighting.

“And he knows how to win. Boris knows how to win.

”Don’t worry about him. He’s going to be okay.”

MPs on Tuesday voted to take control of the parliamentary agenda in order to present the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) (No.6) which would bind Boris Johnson to request an extension of the Brexit deadline until January 2020 if the Prime Minister fails to deliver on a deal by October.

Mr Johnson lost the vote 328 to 301 after MP Philip Lee defected to the Liberal Democrats ahead of the vote and another 21 rebel MPs sided with opposition parties in their bid to stop no deal Brexit.

The Government later withdrew the whip from all 21.

Following that defeat, Mr Johnson announced that he would present a motion calling for a general election in the wake of the Commons vote.

The Prime Minister said: “The Leader of the Opposition has been begging for an election for two years, he has crowds of supporters outside calling for an election.

“I don’t want an election but if MPs vote tomorrow to stop negotiations and compel another pointless delay to Brexit – potentially for years – then that would be the only way to resolve this.

“And I can confirm that we are tonight tabling a motion under the Fixed Terms Parliament Act.”

If the snap election motion is passed, it is likely that the vote will be held on October 14 ahead of the current EU exit date of October 31.

MPs have already voted in favour of the bill tabled by Hilary Benn which will force the Prime Minister to request a Brexit extension until or after January 31, at the first reading stage.

Tory MP Caroline Spelman joined the 21 Conservative rebels against the Government making the Prime Minister’s position even weaker.

After the final vote on the Remainers bill, MPs will debate and vote on whether to have an early general election.

Labour has declared its MPs will abstain in that vote.