He cajoled and blustered, raking his fingers through his trademark mussed hair. He raised his voice above the din of jeers and mocking laughter, jabbing a finger for emphasis.
In the end, none of it worked.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a major defeat Tuesday in Parliament, which cleared the way for a crucial vote Wednesday to prevent the new British leader from taking the country out of the European Union without a withdrawal agreement in place.
Many Britons fear that exiting the EU with no deal governing the nation's relationship with its biggest trading partner would create havoc with its economy and cause other problems.
Following a raucous hourslong debate that plowed on into the evening, lawmakers approved a motion that will allow parliamentary rebels to try to prevent Johnson from using the prospect of a no-deal exit as a bargaining chip to try to win concessions from the EU. Many lawmakers were infuriated by Johnson's move last week to sharply curtail Parliament's timetable for Brexit deliberations.
"The ayes have it!" Parliament speaker John Bercow roared after the 328-301 vote to defy the prime minister. A visibly agitated Johnson declared that if Wednesday's vote goes against him, he would seek a new general election in mid-October rather than accept "more dither, more delay and more confusion" on Brexit.
Two-thirds of Parliament would have to approve that plan.
"The public will have to choose who goes to Brussels on Oct. 17 to sort this out," Johnson said, referring to a make-or-break EU meeting just two weeks before the planned Brexit date, Oct. 31.
The rebellion was spearheaded by the opposition Labor Party, but succeeded because more than a dozen members of Johnson's Conservative Party broke with him in seeking to block a no-deal Brexit. A leaked report from Johnson's own government last month laid out scenarios for "crashing out" of the EU that could include shortages of some food and medicines.
In a day marked by heated debate, one particularly dramatic political defection came even as Johnson, who became prime minister in late July, appealed for party unity. While Johnson spoke, Conservative lawmaker Phillip Lee left the party's benches and strolled across the chamber to sit down among members of the opposition _ a step that stripped Johnson of his one-vote working majority.
In another striking bit of political theater, Johnson's predecessor Theresa May _ the former prime minister he helped hound out of office with strident criticism _ was in the chamber for the debate. Several times, cameras captured her appearing to chortle slightly as prominent Conservatives, including some former Cabinet ministers, accused the prime minister of having no plan for staving off a no-deal departure.
While lawmakers argued, with one after another rising from the chamber's green leather benches to defend or denounce Johnson's tactics, boisterous demonstrations outside the House of Commons continued into the night. Some protesters shouted: "Stop the coup!"
In public, Johnson generally projects an air of cheery confidence, but in only his second parliamentary appearance as prime minister, his usual insouciance seemed to slip in the face of open hostility from some members of Parliament.
"We promised the people we would get Brexit done," the prime minister declared, ignoring loud heckling. "There will be no further pointless delay."
Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, however, scoffed at Johnson's prediction that he would be able to strike a last-minute deal with the other 27 EU nations. The prime minister has repeatedly cited brightening prospects for a renegotiated accord, but European leaders have not echoed his optimistic public assessments.
"It is becoming increasingly clear that this reckless government has only one plan, to crash out of the EU without a deal," Corbyn said.
Even before Tuesday's parliamentary vote, Johnson telegraphed that if lawmakers sought to rule out a no-deal exit, he would seek a general election. It would be the third such vote in four years, and would come more than three years after Britons approved leaving the EU 52%-48% in a 2016 vote.
Analysts said the outcome would be difficult to predict.
John Curtice, a politics professor at the University of Strathclyde, told the BBC that the voting public was highly fragmented, though if voting patterns echoed earlier ones, the Conservatives could succeed. "We've got four parties with substantial shares of the vote," he said.
Tuesday was Parliament's first day back from a summer recess, during which Johnson substantially narrowed the window in which lawmakers would have a chance to debate Brexit. It is normal practice for parliamentary proceedings to be suspended briefly after a new government takes over, but the prime minister used a procedural maneuver to prolong the planned hiatus to five weeks, beginning next week.
That drew a burst of anger from across the political spectrum, with critics accusing Johnson of usurping lawmakers' powers and undermining Britain's unwritten constitution.
Johnson has not hesitated to use strong-arm tactics against Conservative lawmakers who defy him, saying defectors would be expelled from the party, which would mean they could not run for their seats under the party's banner if and when a new general election were held.
Lawmakers on Wednesday could also stage a no-confidence vote in Johnson's government, but he would have two weeks to try to overturn that move. And Johnson _ shocking many in the political establishment _ has hinted he might not step down in the event of a no-confidence vote, as has been long-standing practice by prime ministers.
The political turmoil has hammered the British currency, the pound sterling, briefly touching three-decade lows. Economists have predicted that a Brexit without a withdrawal accord could trigger a recession in Britain that could also weaken the global economy.
