Thread by @uk_domain_names

Frightening way Boris Johnson can try and ram no deal Brexit down our throats: lob grenade Tories fear most by calling for a General Election in early October.

He would need the support of some of his party, and of Labour too, but can you imagine the blowback if Labour said no?

Parliamentary rules dictate that the House of Commons be dissolved 25 working days before a GE. So it wouldn't sit, and MPs wouldn't be MPs any more.

If BJ were successful, that would mean that there was no Parliament constituted all the way to the end of October and beyond.

The new Parliament would take shape at the GE. But in the meantime, of course, Brexit day would have come and gone, and we'd be out under a catastrophic no deal.

By doing it this way, BJ would force Labour to choose no deal Brexit or political suicide.

Because, as I hinted at above, it's almost impossible to fathom the disdain many Labour voters, the unions etc. would have if Labour were to pass over the opportunity to get what it's been shouting for all along.

Labour's number 1 preference is a GE. Alright, says BJ, have one!

This is the only checkmate scenario. I cannot see any escape from it, though maybe you can spot something I missed.

Maybe it would drastically shake up politics. But in doing so it will have also delivered the worse possible Brexit outcome.

Added: he could call for a GE to be held on Brexit day itself, 31 October, because that's a Thursday. That would mean Parliament was dissolved on 30 September.

Or GE on 7 November (Parliament dissolved on 4 October)

He might see the latter as (slightly) more diplomatic.

And the thing about the GE manoeuvre is that everyone will know it's a trick, but it's an above the board trick. BJ wouldn't just be proroging Parliament because he can ("bwahaha, look at my power!") but for an accepted reason, in accordance with Parliament's normal processes.

Not only that, but he would have a ready-made excuse: "I have an ambitious programme for the UK, and need the mandate to carry it out" and he might also get the bonus of seeing a lot of the most Remain voices extinguished as MPs decide not to stand for re-election.

And that will be crucial for the next, main stage of Brexit, the one where we try and hammer out some sort of relationship with the EU and the rest of the world, in between queuing for food and taking part in medicine lotteries.

In the 7 November GE scenario, many of the postal votes will have been cast already before Brexit day. And although no deal is catastrophic, it is possible we have enough slack in "the system" that the worst effects won't have fully manifested by election day.

Boris Johnson may conclude that every single scenario leads to a GE and therefore it might as well be at a time of his choosing, one chosen for maximum gratification of the Tory base (Brexit's just about to happen/has just happened) but before the fan gets buried in brown stuff.

And think of it another way: what would all the other parties campaign on? The game theory possibilities are endless.