UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson survives confidence vote over partygate scandal

PTI

London, June 7

Embattled British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has narrowly survived a vote of confidence by his fellow Conservative Party lawmakers against his leadership, a ballot that has left his authority weakened and exposed rifts within his party.

Some 211 MPs voted for the prime minister, compared to 148 votes against - a majority of 63.

The vote on Monday night rounded off a frenzied day of political high drama and speculation as Johnson, 57, made personal pleas to his party backbenchers to keep their faith in him as Prime Minister, despite the bruising partygate scandal of covid law-breaking parties at Downing Street and across government offices. 

Johnson insisted that the result of the vote was decisively in his favour - a 58.8 per cent for versus 41.2 per cent against.

That figure led to his critics branding it as a damaging outcome for his long-term future as the party leader, while his supporters pointed out that he has the backing of a majority of his party. 

"I think this is a very good result for politics and for the country," said Johnson, in reaction to the ballot.

"Just in this sense I think it's a convincing result, a decisive result and what it means is that as a government we can move on and focus on the stuff that I think really matters to people. I've got a far bigger mandate from my own parliamentary colleagues for instance than I had in 2019,” he declared. 

The vote is held as a secret ballot, with 180 being the cut off for Johnson to win the challenge – given the halfway mark of the Tory parliamentary party membership of 359 if abstentions are not taken into account.

His allies had been keen to stress that a victory in the contest, even by just one vote, would put a rest to an issue that has overshadowed the government's focus on other pressing political concerns. 

"Tonight is a chance to end months of speculation and allow the government to draw a line and move on, delivering on the people's priorities," Downing Street said in a statement. 

The ballot came as Sir Graham Brady, chair of the powerful 1922 Committee of Tory backbench MPs, declared that he had received the requisite 54 letters of no-confidence to trigger the vote.

Under the current Conservative Party rules, Johnson is now safe from a backbench challenge for at least 12 months.

But the political consensus is that he is by no means home safe, with two important by-elections looming on June 23 and a big defeat in those could be taken as a public referendum against his leadership and keep the discontent on the backbenches alive. 

In many ways, the clock is still ticking on Johnson's leadership as his hold on the party has been visibly shaken.

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