Boris Johnson suffered a double blow tonight after MPs blocked both his no deal Brexit plans and his bid for a snap election.
Some 298 MPs voted in favour of an election, with 56 voting against.
But because it requires a two-thirds majority to pass under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, it was lost.
The humiliated Prime Minister said the country must now go to the polls in October to “sort this out” after Parliament thwarted his plans.
But MPs including Tories sacked by Mr Johnson rejected an early election until no deal was firmly off the table.
His crushing Commons defeats came on another bruising day for the PM who was forced to U-turn on calling an election, faced a furious row with Tory MPs for expelling 21 rebels and stumbled his way through his first PMQs .
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn likened the PM’s election proposal to the offer of “a poisoned apple to Snow White by a wicked queen”.
His MPs will not support a new poll, which needs a two thirds majority, until the bill to stop a damaging exit from the EU became law. “Let the Bill pass and have Royal Assent and then we can have a general election,” he said.
But the Labour leader faced his own backlash from backbenchers who want to delay supporting a general election.
They fear that holding an early national poll would leave the door open to crashing out of the EU on October 31.
Many believe Mr Johnson could campaign on his Brexit “do or die” pledge and if he won would then ram through a no-deal departure.
The no-deal legislation is expected to clear the House of Lords by this Friday - and get royal assent next week.
This would then clear the way for another vote on a general election which Mr Corbyn is likely at that stage to support.
But senior Labour figures including shadow chancellor John McDonnell are said to prefer the idea of allowing Mr Johnson to “limp on”.
They believe he would be politically damaged - and therefore beatable - if he was unable to deliver on his Brexit “do or die” pledge.
Shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer told Labour MPs the party would back a poll only once the bill was actually implemented and the three-month Brexit delay guaranteed.
The Lib Dems would also vote against until the extension was guaranteed, although the SNP prefers an earlier poll to set up a battle over independence.
Mr Johnson said it was “very sad” that MPs had voted for the bill to take no deal off the table, which passed by 327 votes to 299.
Protestors outside the House of Commons played the Star Wars theme tune as the result was announced, a reference to the ‘rebel alliance’ of MPs.
The 21 ex-Tory rebels were joined by Tory MP Caroline Spelman who was last night facing being stripped of the party whip.
There was a further moment of confusion when a Labour backbench amendment to seek a compromise by putting Theresa May ’s final Brexit deal to another vote was also passed by mistake.
Downing Street has consistently claimed the anti no deal bill would hamper his negotiations with the EU.
But Mr Corbyn and ex-Tory rebels accused the PM of failing to have any serious negotating strategy - after EU officials claimed they had not seen any concrete offer.
“The Prime Minister says he has a strategy but he can’t say what it is and can’t tell the EU either,” the Labour leader said.
“His Brexit strategy is cloaked in mystery because, like the Emperor’s New Clothes, there really is nothing there”.
Veteran MP Ken Clarke, one of those kicked out the Tory party by the PM, told Mr Johnson he was very good at keeping a “straight face” while being so “disingenuous”. He added: “I urge him one last time to stop treating this as a game.”
The Government will suspend Parliament until October 14th at some point early next week.
Both the main parties are investigating how MPs could be given a second chance to vote for an election next week.
They believe Labour could amend the motion of the fixed term parliament act to attach a date.
No 10 sources suggested it would not oppose the move.
Whitehall sources suggested it was possible the Speaker John Bercow could rule out a second vote.
But one insider said it would be “truly extraordinary” for him to block an election.
It came as Labour signalled it was stepping up snap election prep, with plans to announce it was shelving controversial mandatory trigger selections from next week.
An emergency meeting of the party’s NEC was also scheduled for next Monday.
