Boris Johnson survives as Tory leader, for now. The vote of confidence among his own Conservative MPs leaves him badly wounded.
The Prime Minister won the secret ballot by 211 votes to 148 – a majority of 63. To put this into context, 58 per cent of MPs backed the Prime Minister, with 42 per cent voting against him. By contrast, Theresa May won a similar vote with 63 per cent voting for her, with 37 per cent voting against her. She was gone the following summer.
Monday’s result was announced in Parliament by Sir Graham Brady to loud cheers from Johnson loyalists, although they were quick to depart shortly after, looking stunned. James Cleverly, a minister in the Foreign Office and long-term Boris backer, did a valiant job trying to spin the result to the assembled hacks as a resounding endorsement of his man’s leadership.
Outside parliament, there was glee among Johnson’s foes. Rory Stewart, a former party leadership contender, tweeted:
https://twitter.com/RoryStewartUK/status/1533904725782953984?t=iAWcq8ncrHpLjr4YQtOaNw&s=19.
However, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said his colleagues must “draw a line” and stressed that the only way to win a future general election is “to be united as people don’t vote for divided parties”.
Johnson’s victory provides some short-term relief for his supporters. The first attempt by rebels to oust him and install a new leader, amid the Partygate scandal and falling living standards, felt short.
Theoretically, Johnson is now immune from another leadership bid for 12 months, but Tory backbenchers may force a rule change. It comes six months after a proposal to reduce the time between ballots was rejected by the 1922 Committee. So, we’ll see.
Johnson has survived another day. But as history shows, Tory leaders winning a no-confidence vote but losing a big chunk of their MPs don’t last long.
