Queen will fire PM if he refuses to seek Brexit extension, former attorney general says

The Queen would sack Boris Johnson as prime minister if he refused to comply with a law requiring him to seek an extension to Brexit talks, Dominic Grieve has said.

The former attorney general said the PM would be "out in five minutes" if he attempted to defy a Supreme Court order to go to Brussels.

Johnson has called the legislation a "surrender act" and said that he will not ask Brussels for an extension beyond 31st October.

But Grieve insisted the PM would pay the price if he followed through with this threat.

"He would be taken to court and a writ of mandamus would be issued against him and he would be told that he had, as a matter of law, to write the letter," Grieve told Sky News.

"I suspect the courts could deal with it very quickly.

"At that stage, the cabinet secretary and civil service will refuse to work for him. I assume the attorney general and lord chancellor would have resigned, because it is such a flagrant breach of the law.

"The Supreme Court - Her Majesty's judges - telling the prime minister that as a matter of law he has to do something? He will be gone in five minutes. He will be dismissed."