Boris Johnson wins close confidence vote to save premiership
Boris Johnson has clung onto his premiership by winning a tight no confidence vote tonight, but has been severely wounded by the contest.
Johnson won over Tory MPs by 211-148 in a result that will lead to questions about whether he still has the authority to govern.
The Prime Minister said it was “a very good result…it’s a convincing result, a decisive result” and that he would “bash on”.
Junior foreign minister and Johnson ally James Cleverly celebrated the victory as a “comfortable win” and foreign secretary Liz Truss said “now’s the time to get on with the job”.
However, rebel Tory MPs are briefing tonight that the Prime Minister will not be able to survive such a divided party room.
Tory York Outer MP Julian Sturdy said Johnson should now ”consider his position”.
When asked if Johnson can continue as Prime Minister, environment secretary George Eustice told LBC: “I think he can, but it will take quite a lot of effort to mend fences.”
Party rules mean Johnson cannot face another no confidence vote for another year.
Today’s vote was triggered after a trickle of MPs handed in letters of no confidence to the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers in the two weeks since the release of the Sue Gray partygate report.
The report revealed a pattern of brazen Covid rule-breaking in Downing Street, with Gray finding that Johnson must bear responsibility for the prevailing culture.
Perennial rebel MP Steve Baker told a crowd of journalists earlier today that “[Johnson’s] clearly broken the law and he should go” in reference to the police fine he was given for breaching his own Covid rules.
There has also been growing dissatisfaction within the Tory party about the government’s policy platform, which will lead to the country’s tax burden hitting its highest level in 70 years, and a series of other bruising scandals involving the PM.
The Prime Minister today told a meeting of the 1922 Committee that he would implement a raft of tax cuts and supply side economic reforms in a bid to win their vote.
Downing Street and Johnson loyalists emphasised the lack of any other clear challenger as Tory party leader in the lead-up to the vote.
A Downing Street source said if the Tories got rid of Johnson they would be “undermining their best electoral asset since the 1970s”.