[1andrew1]

interesting thought piece. I would have thought Boris's position is safe in the Party but an extension could play into the hands of Farage who could claim he's the only one who can carry out Brexit.

A Brexit extension could be just what Boris Johnson wants

An extension would destroy any remaining excuse for Mr Corbyn and the opposition parties not to acquiesce to an election (though there might still be some resistance). After that, Number 10 strategists think they will finally be able to go to the country, argue that they were made to extend, that the cost of not doing so would have been a Corbyn government and that if Mr Johnson is given the majority he so craves there will be no more extensions and the EU will have to deal with him without one hand tied behind his back.

He knows he can afford to do this in party terms because, unlike for Theresa May, there is no Brexiter king over the water to challenge his position. He is safe internally. But with the country, it is a riskier proposition. The force he continues to employ could generate an enormous backlash. Most people don't pay attention to daily events in politics but they do notice big moments, especially when they involve a politician's personal integrity or when a politician has pinned all to a certain issue or principle only to resile from it later: John Major never recovered from Britain falling out of the ERM, Tony Blair from WMD, Gordon Brown from the election that never was, Nick Clegg from tuition fees, and Theresa May from the first Brexit extension. It is possible that a second extension would similarly damn Mr Johnson: a million split-screen moments in which he said one thing but did another which shatter his reputation.

https://news.sky.com/story/a-brexit-...wants-11827675