A Delusional Boris Johnson Says ‘Of Course’ October 31 ‘Still Possible’ For Brexit, As EU Punts On Length Of Delay

As is customary, meetings ostensibly aimed at providing some measure of clarity around Brexit produced the exact opposite result on Friday, when EU envoys in Brussels decided not to decide on the length of an extension.

While the EU has agreed (in principle anyway) to extend the deadline, the bloc will wait until next week to decide how lengthy (or not) that extension should be. Emmanuel Macron reportedly thinks it should be very short, in order to help facilitate the process.

On Thursday, Boris Johnson said he’s angling for an election on December 12, something Jeremy Corbyn says he’ll only allow if a no-deal Brexit is taken totally off the table. A vote is set for Monday. Johnson needs a two-thirds majority.

Brussels wants to see the result of that vote before deciding on the length of any deadline extension.

Read more: Boris Johnson Writes Letter To Corbyn, Just Wants ‘This Nightmare To End’

“What we don’t do is engage in pointless Brexitology in Parliament, when Parliament is simply committed to delay”, Boris said Friday, calling on Corbyn to “man up” and go along with the election idea. That’s typical posturing. This isn’t about “manning up”. It’s not a fist fight or a damn duel. One person in this equation is trying to ensure the UK doesn’t crash out of the EU with no deal. The other person is Boris Johnson.

In any case, France thinks any extension should be through the end of next month at the latest. The proposed three-month extension, Paris worries, could incentivize UK lawmakers to procrastinate. The EU wants to decide on this without holding a summit, if possible.

“Everyone wanted a decision today. But France had a problem with that and wanted to wait until Monday/Tuesday to see what happens in London”, one diplomat told Reuters. “We will come back to this discussion on length after the weekend. And this time is to be used for political consultations”.

Boris made a series of ridiculous claims on Friday amid the confusion. For instance, he assessed that somehow, he’s going to be able to “vigorously” pursue his domestic program without worrying about a potential election or the fate of the country’s EU membership.

“He will continue to do all that he can to break the Brexit deadlock, because the country wants Brexit to be resolved”, Johnson’s spokesman told reporters in London on Friday. “At the same time, the prime minister has a dynamic and ambitious domestic agenda, and he will continue pursuing that with full vigor”.

Even better was this, from Boris himself:

As things stand we can leave on October. 31.  We should be leaving on October 31. Of course October 31 is still possible – we could leave on October 31.

We would remind readers that at a certain point, regardless of whether you are or aren’t inclined to support some of the more radical departures from western political normality which have emerged since 2015, it’s incumbent upon sane people to acknowledge that more than a few of the folks pushing these agendas are now saying things that are objectively delusional.