Yes...he sent three items...an unsigned letter complying with Benn Act, a personal letter asking the EU not to agree with an extension, and a copy of the Court document compelling him to send the request, He may be hauled back into court for non-compliance ...that remains to be seen.

Gawd. Good job this isn’t early Georgian period or the Riot Act would be read and the militia would be out taking pot shots!

Johnson also said he has no intention of asking the EU for another extension. But the Benn/Burt Act states he must if his bill does not pass.

@Red_Cat Yes...and they will prosecute him if he fails to follow the law...so he has been asking the EU to refuse to extend if he is forced into sending the letter,

@Marionville Where did you get that? I must have missed it.

@Red_Cat It has been spoken about over the past few days that he has been in contact with other EU leaders asking them to reject an extension..but the commentators say that it’s unlikely that the EU will say no because they don’t want any blame attached to them if we crash out without a deal.

@Marionville Ah. Good for them, is all I can say.

Keir Starmer is brilliant. I had cause to use Doughty Street Chambers for a prosecution several years ago and he was my brief. A very estute man.

@Geoffrey51 I’ve posted an update above.

Can you explain why NI would reject the deal?

@Mcflewster It puts two borders up instead of one. The DUP want no regulatory difference between Great Britain and Northern Ireland because that ultimately weakens the Union. There is no good solution for Northern Ireland except the present status quo...all of the UK remaining in the EU. Leaving the EU...even with a deal weakens the Union, in both N.I. and Scotland. There will be a new referendum for Independence in Scotland and a border referendum in Ireland in the not too distant future. The DUP, by insisting on their Britishness have unwittingly unleashed a new awareness here that in fact we are just a small Island with an artificial line drawn on a map, and that we have more in common with the Republic than we have with England. I for one would be quite relaxed about a United Ireland, despite being British, and as we’d still be in the EU with all its benefits, it seems increasingly attractive to me,

@Marionville Thanks for your succinct analysis. I hail from a small Island not too far from Ireland. It has special but not clear[ to me] arrangement . I congratulate anyone who is preserving the status quo so that we can ALL decide when in the future we would want a change as big as this and how we would actually change it.Having said that I would rather be changing the EU. In a way it is good that the Breakfast DEBACLE(is that the word?) HAS happened . It SHOULD prompt ALL to be revised.

I know..I’m torn between rugby & Westminster!

Boris has just given an opening blustering speech extolling the benefits of voting for his deal!