British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has narrowly survived a confidence vote in his leadership. He dodged the dramatic no-confidence vote on Monday, with a too-close-for-comfort result that leaves him politically wounded and will likely begin a volatile period in British politics as he fights to stay in power and fend off potential challengers in his Conservative Party. The vote was triggered by disgruntled Conservative MPs in his own party. A staggering 148 of his own lawmakers decided they had no confidence in Johnson’s leadership, against 211 who support him. That means 58.6% of Conservative MPs backed him, which is a worse result than former Prime Minister Theresa May, who had the support of 63% of her lawmakers (200, in a much smaller parliamentary party) when she faced a confidence vote in 2018.
Johnson’s time in office has been derailed by the “Partygate” scandal (in which Boris Johnson’s staff got drunk, brawled and abused cleaners during Covid lockdowns, as well as held illegal birthday parties that he attended), criticism over his response to a cost of living crisis and a series of local election defeats.
Theresa May survived just six months further in the job after her no confidence vote, before ultimately being forced to resign.
Keir Starmer, the opposition Labour party leader, said on Twitter that the vote made the choice between the two parties “clearer than ever before.” “Divided Tories propping up Boris Johnson with no plan to tackle the issues you are facing, or a united Labour Party with a plan to fix the cost of living crisis and restore trust in politics.”