London: British lawmakers and legal authorities took to the airwaves and rounded on prime minister Boris Johnson on Saturday after he indicated he would ignore a new law preventing him from taking the country out of the European Union without a deal on October 31.
Johnson declared earlier this week that he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than delay Britain's departure from the EU, regardless of whether parliament passed a bill forcing him to do so.
"We are in a quite extraordinary territory when the Prime Minister says he is above the law," opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Saturday.
Former Conservative lawmaker Dominic Grieve, who now sits as an independent, said that Johnson's behaviour was outrageous.
"I'm appalled that a Prime Minister, a conservative Prime Minister, who says he is a conservative, should be behaving in this fashion," Grieve declared.
A former director of public prosecutions, Ken Macdonald, warned that Johnson would be in contempt of court if he refused to abide by the new law.
"It would be bad enough for him to decline to follow a law in the first place but if a court were to then rule that he must... he would be setting himself up against the rule of law itself," Macdonald told media.
But support for the prime minister came from Conservative party lawmaker Nigel Evans, who said that outside the "Westminster bubble" people were very supportive of Johnson's stance.
"After all, all he is doing is trying to deliver on the promise that the politicians gave to the people just three years ago," Evans said.
Meanwhile, clashes erupted as far-right hooligans hurled metal crowd barriers at police outside the Houses of Parliament during pro and anti-Brexit protests in London on Saturday.
The clashes spread after some hooligans ran along Whitehall towards the anti-Brexit protest organised by left-wing group Another Europe Is Possible.
Police used batons to regain control of the situation and detain some of the hooligans.
