Johnson, who won a landslide election victory in 2019, came under increasing pressure after he and his staff threw booze parties at his Downing Bourse office and residence as Britain went into lockdown to fight coronavirus. the COVID-19 pandemic.
The vote was a blow to Johnson, with 41% of his lawmakers voting against his leadership after months of scandals and blunders that raised questions about his authority to rule Britain and sent his rating plummeting with the UK. audience.
But Johnson, a master of political returns, instead described the vote as a “decisive outcome” meaning that “as a government we can move forward and focus on the things that I think really matter to people.” people”.
“We can focus on what we’re doing to help people cope with the cost of life, what we’re doing to clear the backlog of COVID, what we’re doing to make streets and communities safer by putting more police available,” said Johnson, who for weeks has been trying to steer the national conversation away from “partygate.”
It’s a change of fortune for Johnson and underscores the depth of anger against him. He was greeted with a chorus of boos and boos, and some muted cheers, at events held to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee in recent days.
Several lawmakers said the vote, which saw 211 legislators vote in favor of Johnson to 148, was worse than expected for a prime minister who was once seemingly unassailable after winning the largest Tory majority in more than three decades.
“Boris Johnson will be relieved by this vote. But he will also understand that the next priority is to rebuild party cohesion,” David Jones, a former cabinet minister, told Reuters. “I’m sure he’ll be up to the challenge.”
Others were less optimistic, with one Tory lawmaker saying on condition of anonymity: “It’s clearly a lot worse than most people expected. But it’s too early to say what will happen now.”
Roger Gale, a long-time critic of Johnson, urged the Prime Minister “to go back to Downing Bourse this evening and think very carefully about what happens next”.
A 12-MONTH SUSPEND
By winning the vote of confidence, Johnson secured himself a 12-month reprieve during which lawmakers cannot bring another challenge. But her predecessor Theresa May scored higher in her 2018 vote of confidence, only to step down six months later.
Dozens of Tory lawmakers have worried whether Johnson, 57, has lost his authority to govern Britain, which faces recession risk, rising fuel and food prices and travel chaos d the strike in the capital London.
But his cabinet rallied behind him and highlighted what they said were the government’s successes: a rapid rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations and Britain’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
GRAPH-Johnson vs May: comparison of votes of confidence
It would have taken a majority of Conservative lawmakers – at least 180 – to vote against Johnson for him to be impeached.
Earlier, a spokesman for the Johnson Downing Exchange office said the vote would ‘allow the Government to draw a line and move on’ and that the Prime Minister welcomed the opportunity given to him. to present its arguments to the legislators.
Johnson, a former mayor of London, came to power at Westminster as the face of the Brexit campaign in the 2016 referendum, and won the 2019 election with the slogan “get Brexit done”.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, minister for Brexit opportunities, told Sky News that the completion of Britain’s departure from the European Union would be “significantly at risk without his drive and energy”.
Johnson has battled with Brussels over Northern Ireland, raising the prospect of further barriers to British trade and alarming leaders in Ireland, Europe and the United States about risks to the deal. 1998 peace in the province.
But it’s the months of stories about what happened Downing Bourse, including fights and alcohol-induced vomiting, as many people were prevented from saying goodbye to loved ones at funerals, that did the real damage.
The move led to lawmakers from different wings of the party revealing that they had turned against their leader. A former ally has accused the prime minister of insulting both the electorate and the party by staying in power.
“You have presided over a culture of reckless breaking of the law at 10 Downing Bourse when it comes to COVID,” Jesse Norman, a former junior minister, said ahead of the vote.
Johnson’s anti-corruption chief, John Penrose, also resigned.