UK’s Johnson Survives No-confidence Vote

By Staff, Agencies

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday survived a vote of no confidence from his own Conservative MPs but with his position weakened after a sizeable number refused to back him.

The Brexit figurehead called the 211-148 split a "convincing result, a decisive result."

"As a government we can move on and focus on the stuff that really matters," he told reporters.

The vote -- just over two years after he won a landslide general election victory -- was brought after a string of scandals that have left the Tory party's standing in tatters.

Chief among them was the "Partygate" controversy over lockdown-breaking events at Downing Street, which caused public outrage and saw him become the first serving UK prime minister to have broken the law.

Johnson, 57, needed the backing of 180 MPs to survive the vote -- a majority of one out of the 359 sitting Conservatives in parliament.

Defeat would have meant an end to his time as party leader and prime minister until a replacement was found in an internal leadership contest.

Speculation will now turn to whether Johnson can survive having lost the confidence of so many of his own MPs -- and whether senior ministers will now resign.

In previous Tory ballots, predecessors Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May both ultimately resigned despite narrowly winning their own votes, deciding that their premierships were terminally damaged.

"The Conservative government now believes that breaking the law is no impediment to making the law," the main opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer said.

"The Conservative party now believes the British public have no right to expect honest politicians."