British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called his cabinet pledging to “keep working” after surviving a confidence vote by Conservative MPs that severely weakened his authority.
“Today, I pledge to keep delivering,” Johnson said on Tuesday ahead of a cabinet meeting. “We stand with hardworking Britons and we will keep working.”
The embattled leader claimed Monday night’s dramatic vote was a “decisive result”. In the vote, 211 Conservative MPs supported him to remain prime minister, while 148 opposed it.
But most critics and commentators disagreed, arguing that his authority was so undermined that his days in Downing Street were numbered.
The pro-Conservative Daily Telegraph said “an empty victory will tear the Conservatives apart”, while the left-leaning Daily Mirror said bluntly: “The party is over, Boris”.
Just over two years after Johnson’s landslide general election victory, a series of scandals ahead of the vote have put the Conservative Party in jeopardy.
Chief among them was the “partygate” controversy in Downing Street during the lockdown, which sparked public outrage and made Johnson the first British prime minister to break the law while in office.
Johnson, 57, needed the support of 180 of 359 Conservative MPs to survive the vote. Failure meant the end of his time as party leader and prime minister.
Most of Johnson’s cabinet publicly supported him in a secret ballot, but more than 40 percent of parliamentary party members, almost certainly the majority of backbenchers, did not. There is also opposition from various Conservative factions.
Under current party rules, he cannot be challenged again for a year or a new leader will emerge soon before the next general election in 2024.
Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May both outscored Johnson in previous Conservative confidence votes, but both ultimately chose to resign after their prime ministerial authority was severely undermined.
Johnson has steadfastly refused to resign over “partygate” and has shown no signs of doing so now.
fight for survival
After a series of controversies culminated in the “Partygate” saga, Johnson spent months fighting for his political survival.
Various opinion polls show that the public believes he lied about the scandal and should resign.
His Conservative Party lost several once-safe seats in by-elections and suffered dismal votes in recent local elections.
They are expected to lose two upcoming by-elections later this month, including in once-rock-solid Conservative constituencies.
Johnson was booed by the crowd gathered outside St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday ahead of a religious service for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.
Rivals tried to take advantage of Monday’s vote. The smaller opposition Liberal Democrats have urged opponents within the Conservative Party to resign from their party and sit down as independents while Johnson remains leader.
However, Conservative MPs who voted against him are highly unlikely to accept the proposal and appear to be waiting for the moment.
“It’s far from a decisive result, it’s not a defeat, but it’s not a victory,” said Tobias Elwood, a Conservative MP who has called for Johnson to resign since February.
He said he “tentatively” accepted Monday’s results.
“Glorious Exit”
Johnson hopes to continue this month with a series of speeches, policy announcements and high-profile appearances on the world stage.
This includes plans for a joint speech with Chancellor Rishi Sunak to tackle the worsening cost of living crisis.
He is expected to travel to Rwanda for a meeting of Commonwealth leaders before heading to Germany and Spain for G7 and NATO summits.
There has also been growing speculation that he may restructure his team of senior ministers to reward those who support him. But many have questioned whether he can restore his authority and regain the trust of voters.
Conservative heavyweight king and former leader William Hague believes Johnson should “look for an honourable exit”.
He wrote in The Times: “Words said cannot be retracted, reports published cannot be erased, and the vote shows a higher level of rejection than any Conservative leader has endured and survived.”
“Deep down, he should have recognized that and turned away in a way that didn’t expose the party and the country to this pain and uncertainty.”
