Her Majesty’s Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury is “threatening” to call a new election on October 14th in an effort to stave off a rebellion from within his party. A relatively recent British law now requires a 2/3 vote of the Commons to call a snap election, but there is the possibility of enough Tories plus opposition to support this. If I were the Queen last week I would have been tempted to tie assent to prorogation to a new election. In fact, I’ve long wished it were kosher for her to call elections on her own and sort out this mess. I put “threatening” in quotes because I sense that at least for some this is a don’t throw us into the brier patch moment. Johnson thinks he can stop the Tory rebels by calling an election in which he won’t allow them on the party ballot line, but many are prepared to run as independents and just might succeed. If those elections go forward the next Government should be based entirely on whether pro- or anti-Brexiters get a majority. Many who voted to leave regretted it almost immediately and there seems little support for a no-deal crash out of the EU. I’m not sure if this is realistic, but for me the ideal outcome of these hypothetical elections is a solid majority for reversing the Brexit process and stay in the EU. With a one-vote majority Johnson should be careful what he wishes for.