British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday said he would “rather be dead in a ditch” than agree to extend Brexit beyond next month, AFP reported. The prime minister had promised to leave the European Union on October 31 with or without a deal, but several leaders across party lines united against it.

Johnson in a speech in northern England said “I’d rather be dead in a ditch” than ask for the European Union to delay Brexit. “It achieves absolutely nothing,” he added. “What on earth is the point of further delay?”

Johnson’s younger brother, Jo Johnson had resigned as a junior minister on Thursday. “We must come out of the EU on October 31,” the Conservative leader said hours after his resignation. Jo Johnson had said he could no longer reconcile “family loyalty and national interest”.

Boris Johnson had earlier this week expelled 21 Conservative lawmakers from the party for failing to support his Brexit strategy, including Winston Churchill’s grandson and a former finance minister.

British lawmakers next week hold another vote on a motion on whether to hold an early election. But opposition parties, including the Labour Party, want to ensure that an election does not allow Johnson to lead the United Kingdom out of the EU without a deal.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn will hold a conference call with other opposition parties on Friday to discuss Brexit. “We need to be absolutely sure that we are not going to end up in a situation where the general election is used as a distraction whilst they [the government] by some cunning wheeze bounce us out of the European Union without a deal,” Emily Thornberry, party’s foreign affairs spokesperson said.

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