it allows him to show voters that twice those in Opposition Parties have squirmed away from holding one.
Indeed, lemon, that is certainly how it will be presented in most of the media.
However, the opposition parties are, in fact, representing the 80% of the country who don't want to leave the EU without a deal and to do that they have to ensure that the legislation they passed in Parliament is enacted. Once this has been done the opposition parties will be more than willing for a GE to be held
If Johnson has got a new 'deal' by then he 'may' be in a position of strength (though I think his prorogation shenanigans will have lost him support) . If he hasn't, he will have broken his promise to leave on Oct 31st. Not so strong...