This suggests to me that he's a bit panicky that these published Boris plans might just fly.
I've at least been able to (albeit largely unsuccesfully) second guess what the f*ck is going on up until now, but I'm f*cked if I can work out what Boris will do if he's legally forced to extend. I don't think they would realistically try to find a loophole and I don't think he'll resign. So what on earth is the plan?
He'll have someone else do it (doesn't have to be the PM who makes the request) then when the EU grant the extension (they will) we have a GE with the Tories running on a No Deal Brexit if needed campaign.
P.S. I think the EU will sign it off because the polls suggest that if they don't we'll end up with No Deal
Even if the EU reject it, the fact that Boris may well be able to show that it has a clear majority in Parliament would be a huge boost and make his opponents appear totally unreasonable.
You can tell already that panic is setting in among other parties who are desperately trying to depict this new deal as "designed to fail".
Absolutely - Corbyn, Blackford and others may be thick but they know full well that if Boris gets a deal through he’s going to win the next GE and almost certainly with a majority. Labour - yet again - seem to stand for nothing other than being willing to say or do anything to get into power.