coverage of the presidential candidates at the nature democratic party convention. our live coverage is saturday 9:00 a.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org or listen with the free c-span radio app. fromlook at the headlines the bbc this evening. boris johnson's call for a general election rejected by mp's. this after several hours of debate in the british house of commons that resulted in members voting to block a new deal brexit and force -- no deal brexit and force the prime minister to extend the deadline to leave the european union. for more on what happened in the british parliament and what is next for exit, we -- brexit, we

spoke with a reporter in london. >> jason douglas has been following today's developments and is on the phone from london. first, can you explain exactly what unfolded and why today? jason: sure. a couple of things happened. two big votes in the house of commons here in london. both were defeats for prime minister boris johnson. the first was a proposal that will effectively extend the brexit deadline once again if mr. johnson cannot renegotiate terms of the u.k.'s withdrawal union and getean parliament back on the plan. it means brexit is certainly to be delayed again beyond october 31. the second defeat was on his plans for a general election. he wanted to call a quick snap general election on october 15.

parliament has voted that down, as well. this means the u.k. is probably still on course for an election, but not at the time of mr. johnson's choosing, it will be in novemberly or after brexit being delayed. >> can you explain that process? how an election is determined in great britain? jason: there are a couple ways it can happen, which is why it is complicated. in the old days, the prime minister could call an election whenever he'd like. in 2011, they changed the rules. a prime minister can call an election a couple of different ways. the easiest is if he gets a two thirds majority of lawmakers in the house of commons to back his proposal. most opposition parties are itching for an election at all times. the second is if he can persuade parliament to pass a piece of

legislation calling for an election on that date. that is trickier for mr. johnson, because things can be amended, and then you can get all sorts of things he doesn't particularly want to see happen. the third way is for completion's sake, you could have a vote of no-confidence in the government. >> there has been deep division among conservatives in great britain on the brexit issue. has it reached a boiling point? jason: it is certainly getting there. the conservative party has been divided over the european union policy for a long time, and it has reached the point where these divisions are becoming extreme. you have to remember the brexit referendum was called to quell the divisions and get this issue out of the party once and for all. if anything, it just made it worse. we saw the spectacle this week on tuesday night, where 21 senior conservative lawmakers were ejected from the party for

voting against the government, voting against mr. johnson, including former treasury chiefs, people like philip hammond, the chancellor of the someoner recently, and who has the distinction of being the grandson of winston churchill, as you can imagine a pretty big name in conservative party circles. >> where does this put the british prime minister? he has been in office only six weeks. jason: he is in a bit of a bind. the next steps i think will be the most interesting. i think what is going to happen is he will try whatever he can to try and force this election. it is not exactly clear how that will happen, but he will try some things. parliament will go for recess sometime next week.

there will be a bit of a spell where he could regroup and perhaps come up with a new plan. failing that, i think we are headed for an elections november. what boris johnson wants to do is come up with a very populist message of parliament versus the people. brexit is what the people voted for in 2016, but he was frustrated by parliament. he will go on with this measure in the hope of winning a bigger majority to pass whatever brexit legislation he wants. >> one final point. we saw the snap election with theresa may, and the conservatives lost seats. how big of a gamble is this? jason: that is very true. it is a very big gamble. boris is a better---- theresa campaigner than may. he has popular policies around

hostels, thee, things british voters say they care about. but he does have problems. on one of his flanks is the the brexit party led by nigel farage, a long time euroskeptic. they are likely to soak up a few votes on the conservatives. on the other side, they have parties like the liberal democrats, who are likely to soak up the more moderate conservative voters. it certainly will be an uphill struggle, but the conservative party certainly is coming to the conclusion that boris johnson is the man to pull this off if anyone can. >> on what has been a long and lengthy debate in the house of commons, jason douglas joining us from london. his work is available online. thank you for being with us. jason: thank you very much. my pleasure. announcer: and now a