by William James
LONDON (Reuters) – Boris Johnson promised on Tuesday to press ahead with his reforms in the hope of turning the page after the vote of confidence organized the previous evening by the Conservative Party which weakened his position at the head of the British executive.
If the head of government, splashed by the “Partygate” scandal, the parties organized at 10 Downing Street during the coronavirus crisis, was not put in the minority, more than 40% of elected Tories voted for his departure , a far larger rebellion than its supporters expected.
Bringing together his main ministers on Tuesday, some of whom could have sought his succession if he had been forced to resign, Boris Johnson urged them to implement measures in favor of households or businesses.
“We are now in a position to draw a line under the issues that our opponents want to talk about, and to start talking again about what the people in this country want,” he told his ministers, remarks broadcast to the press. television.
According to his services, the Prime Minister was to use this meeting to prepare new government measures for the coming weeks.
Boris Johnson will speak on housing this week and plans to speak on the economy next week. The government also intends to send a first group of asylum seekers to Rwanda on June 14, as part of an agreement concluded with Kigali.
“This is a government that keeps its word on the main concerns of the British people. (…) We stand with British workers and we will continue the work,” said a statement from Downing Street.
Following the vote of the elected Conservatives, the British press insists on the narrowness of the Prime Minister’s victory (211 votes for, 148 votes against). “The PM survives… narrowly”, notes the Sun while the Times evokes a “Pyrrhic victory” for a Boris Johnson with disputed authority and a Conservative Party more than ever divided.
According to Tory Party rules, no internal confidence vote can be held again for the next twelve months, but observers point out that Theresa May won a vote of confidence by a large margin in 2018 before being forced to resign six months later.
(William James report, French version Jean-Stéphane Brosse)