Boris Johnson just took a huge step to ensure Brexit happens on October 31

Opponents of a no-deal Brexit just got royally outflanked. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's wheeze of getting the Queen to order a five-week suspension of Parliament means his critics have much less time than they thought to prevent the UK leaving the European Union without a deal on October 31. Downing Street, however, believes it has taken a decisive step towards achieving Johnson's stated aim of taking Britain out of the EU by the end of October. Before today, the preferred option of lawmakers who oppose a no-deal Brexit was to pass a law requiring the government to seek an extension to the Brexit deadline and hold a second referendum, should negotiations with the EU fail to result in a deal. Those legal moves -- cemented at a highly unusual display of opposition unity in the office of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Tuesday -- were due to begin when Parliament returns from its annual summer break on September 3. The anti-no-deal brigade planned to block the traditional three-week break for the main parties' annual conferences, which was due to begin around September 14. Time, and House of Commons Speaker John Bercow, were on their side, they believed. But Johnson's move now means they've only got a handful of days to engineer the required legislation before the suspension approved by the Queen -- which cannot be voted down -- takes effect. That could force them to fall back on Plan B -- a vote of no-confidence in the government. The trouble is, for that to succeed, they need Conservative lawmakers to vote against their own party, which was always thought to be a tall order. No surprise, then, to hear all the howls of "constitutional outrage."