Prime Minister’s authority crushed as he vows to battle on – but with rebels circling to finish him off
Boris Johnson was on Monday night clinging to power after a record proportion of Tory MPs voted against him in a confidence ballot.
The Prime Minister secured the support of 211 Tories against 148 rebels, prompting him to declare that it was time to “move on”.
But the scale of the vote against his leadership was higher than expected, revealing deep disillusionment among scores of Conservative MPs.
The size of the rebellion was greater than those faced by Theresa May, John Major and Margaret Thatcher in similar votes.
The vote means 41 per cent of Tory MPs do not have confidence in the Prime Minister’s leadership. There are between 160 and 170 MPs on the government payroll, meaning it is likely that only around 40 backbenchers expressed support.
But Mr Johnson insisted: “I think this is a very good result for politics and for the country. I think it’s a convincing result, a decisive result. And what it means is that, as a Government we can move on and focus on the stuff that I think really matters to people.
“I’m grateful to colleagues. I’m grateful for the support that they’ve given me. Of course I understand that what we need to do now is come together as a Government and as a party, and that is exactly what we can now do.
“And what this gives us is the opportunity to put behind us all the stuff that I know the media have quite properly wanted to focus on for a very long time and to do our job.”
He said he had secured a bigger mandate than in his 2019 leadership election win, when he secured 160 votes – 51 per cent – out of 312 Tory MPs.
But on Monday night, rebels were already issuing fresh demands for him to resign over the scale of the no-confidence vote.
Julian Sturdy said the vote showed “clear evidence” that Mr Johnson “no longer enjoys the full-hearted confidence of the parliamentary party and should consider his position.” There were also calls from rebels for the Cabinet to act.
Monday’s vote came after a bruising jubilee weekend during which the Prime Minister was booed and followed a day in which he pleaded with Tory MPs to keep him in Number 10 by promising tax cuts and insisting he was still a vote winner.
Yet scores of Conservatives went public with calls for his resignation, citing partygate and the cost of living crisis.
The first leadership challengers to Mr Johnson also emerged, with Jeremy Hunt, a former foreign secretary, announcing that he would vote against the Prime Minister.
Mr Johnson now faces a looming set of hurdles, including two by-elections before the end of the month and a report by MPs into whether he broke the ministerial code over partygate in the autumn.
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, on Monday night said a “divided” Conservative Party was “propping up” the Prime Minister.
Placeholder image for youtube video: 7OTw1MFZDhs
Much could now depend on how Cabinet ministers, who on Monday stayed loyal publicly to the Prime Minister, choose to act in the weeks and months ahead.
Mr Johnson will try to draw a line under the saga on Tuesday as he addresses his Cabinet, most of whom issued public statements of support within hours of the vote being called.
He will announce an expansion of Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy policy as soon as Thursday as he seeks to deliver on promises of more traditional Tory measures.
Economic interventions – including a joint speech with Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, to put on a united front – are being organised for later in the month.
A Cabinet reshuffle, mentioned to rebels by party whips on Monday as they scrambled to keep wavering Tory MPs onside, remains a possibility.
One member of Mr Johnson’s inner circle said a reshuffle was being planned before the July parliamentary recess but would have to balance rewarding loyalty with promotions.
Cabinet ministers insisted in interviews that Mr Johnson would continue even if he won by “a single vote”. One told The Telegraph: “A win’s a win”.
Downing Street had framed the vote as the chance for the Prime Minister to “put the distraction of the last months behind us” – but that is by no means guaranteed. Tory rebels have privately indicated that they are unlikely to give up their push to remove him before the next election.
A brace of by-election defeats on June 23, when the voters of Wakefield as well as Tiverton and Honiton decide whether they still want a Tory MP, could cause fresh unrest.
Losing both the Red Wall seat of Wakefield, which traditionally votes Labour, and the Blue Wall constituency of Tiverton, a solidly Tory southern rural seat, would be jumped on by critics.
Boris Johnson speaks to reporters after winning the confidence vote
Boris Johnson speaks to reporters after winning the confidence vote
The scale of concern among Tory members will be a challenge. Two snap surveys on Monday put the proportion of members who want Mr Johnson gone at 42 per cent and 55 per cent.
You know it’s bad when even the Torygraph is against him
What’s with the assumption that ministers wouldn’t vote against him? It was a secret ballot. There’s no way, for example, that Truss or Sunak voted for him.
Bigdogs going to save the union by bringing back imperial measures.
Fix the economy by starting a trade war with the EU over the oven ready brexit deal he agreed.
Level up the North with thoughts and prayers.
Fix the NHS with 40, no 400, no fuck it 4000 new hospitals!!!
He’s got a plan and he’s getting on with it.
……. Sadly that plan is him staying in the bighouse, playing the bigman, earning the big bucks for as long as he can keep fooling the easily fooled.
The longer he stays and the more this rumbles on, the more likely it is that we get an early election called by Johnson. This is actually a really positive result for anybody who isn’t a Tory, since any new leader now would likely get a jump in the polls and probably call for a snap election in order to ratify a mandate (which will likely be a much closer race than with ol’ Big Dog bumbling his way through an election campaign).
I am actually cautiously optimistic and quietly pleased with the result.
i wonder how many cowards would have changed their vote now they know so many have voted ‘no confidence”
To quote the late Windsor Davies…”Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.”
I still can’t work out why Boris seems to think that this vote is a good result. The result is worse than what May, Major, Thatcher had and they had all gone within 6 months of the no confidence vote.
But Boris doesn’t see that, unless its wearing a skirt and Carrie isn’t around
Will the rebels start withdrawing their votes in parliament like happened to finish May?
Or will the rebels calculate it’s better for the party to fall in line for now, whilst Boris uses the extra year to whittle away the influence of known ‘traitors’?
Nothing much has changed since before the vote then, all it has done is confirmed what many would have suspected. Now they will just move their fight into the public for us all to see.
YOU’RE TEARING ME APART ~~lisa~~ BORIS
I am with Napoleon when he said it is not a good idea to interrupt your enemies when they are making mistakes.
12 comments
Prime Minister’s authority crushed as he vows to battle on – but with rebels circling to finish him off
Boris Johnson was on Monday night clinging to power after a record proportion of Tory MPs voted against him in a confidence ballot.
The Prime Minister secured the support of 211 Tories against 148 rebels, prompting him to declare that it was time to “move on”.
But the scale of the vote against his leadership was higher than expected, revealing deep disillusionment among scores of Conservative MPs.
The size of the rebellion was greater than those faced by Theresa May, John Major and Margaret Thatcher in similar votes.
The vote means 41 per cent of Tory MPs do not have confidence in the Prime Minister’s leadership. There are between 160 and 170 MPs on the government payroll, meaning it is likely that only around 40 backbenchers expressed support.
But Mr Johnson insisted: “I think this is a very good result for politics and for the country. I think it’s a convincing result, a decisive result. And what it means is that, as a Government we can move on and focus on the stuff that I think really matters to people.
“I’m grateful to colleagues. I’m grateful for the support that they’ve given me. Of course I understand that what we need to do now is come together as a Government and as a party, and that is exactly what we can now do.
“And what this gives us is the opportunity to put behind us all the stuff that I know the media have quite properly wanted to focus on for a very long time and to do our job.”
He said he had secured a bigger mandate than in his 2019 leadership election win, when he secured 160 votes – 51 per cent – out of 312 Tory MPs.
But on Monday night, rebels were already issuing fresh demands for him to resign over the scale of the no-confidence vote.
Julian Sturdy said the vote showed “clear evidence” that Mr Johnson “no longer enjoys the full-hearted confidence of the parliamentary party and should consider his position.” There were also calls from rebels for the Cabinet to act.
Monday’s vote came after a bruising jubilee weekend during which the Prime Minister was booed and followed a day in which he pleaded with Tory MPs to keep him in Number 10 by promising tax cuts and insisting he was still a vote winner.
Yet scores of Conservatives went public with calls for his resignation, citing partygate and the cost of living crisis.
The first leadership challengers to Mr Johnson also emerged, with Jeremy Hunt, a former foreign secretary, announcing that he would vote against the Prime Minister.
Mr Johnson now faces a looming set of hurdles, including two by-elections before the end of the month and a report by MPs into whether he broke the ministerial code over partygate in the autumn.
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, on Monday night said a “divided” Conservative Party was “propping up” the Prime Minister.
Placeholder image for youtube video: 7OTw1MFZDhs
Much could now depend on how Cabinet ministers, who on Monday stayed loyal publicly to the Prime Minister, choose to act in the weeks and months ahead.
Mr Johnson will try to draw a line under the saga on Tuesday as he addresses his Cabinet, most of whom issued public statements of support within hours of the vote being called.
He will announce an expansion of Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy policy as soon as Thursday as he seeks to deliver on promises of more traditional Tory measures.
Economic interventions – including a joint speech with Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, to put on a united front – are being organised for later in the month.
A Cabinet reshuffle, mentioned to rebels by party whips on Monday as they scrambled to keep wavering Tory MPs onside, remains a possibility.
One member of Mr Johnson’s inner circle said a reshuffle was being planned before the July parliamentary recess but would have to balance rewarding loyalty with promotions.
Cabinet ministers insisted in interviews that Mr Johnson would continue even if he won by “a single vote”. One told The Telegraph: “A win’s a win”.
Downing Street had framed the vote as the chance for the Prime Minister to “put the distraction of the last months behind us” – but that is by no means guaranteed. Tory rebels have privately indicated that they are unlikely to give up their push to remove him before the next election.
A brace of by-election defeats on June 23, when the voters of Wakefield as well as Tiverton and Honiton decide whether they still want a Tory MP, could cause fresh unrest.
Losing both the Red Wall seat of Wakefield, which traditionally votes Labour, and the Blue Wall constituency of Tiverton, a solidly Tory southern rural seat, would be jumped on by critics.
Boris Johnson speaks to reporters after winning the confidence vote
Boris Johnson speaks to reporters after winning the confidence vote
The scale of concern among Tory members will be a challenge. Two snap surveys on Monday put the proportion of members who want Mr Johnson gone at 42 per cent and 55 per cent.
You know it’s bad when even the Torygraph is against him
What’s with the assumption that ministers wouldn’t vote against him? It was a secret ballot. There’s no way, for example, that Truss or Sunak voted for him.
Bigdogs going to save the union by bringing back imperial measures.
Fix the economy by starting a trade war with the EU over the oven ready brexit deal he agreed.
Level up the North with thoughts and prayers.
Fix the NHS with 40, no 400, no fuck it 4000 new hospitals!!!
He’s got a plan and he’s getting on with it.
……. Sadly that plan is him staying in the bighouse, playing the bigman, earning the big bucks for as long as he can keep fooling the easily fooled.
The longer he stays and the more this rumbles on, the more likely it is that we get an early election called by Johnson. This is actually a really positive result for anybody who isn’t a Tory, since any new leader now would likely get a jump in the polls and probably call for a snap election in order to ratify a mandate (which will likely be a much closer race than with ol’ Big Dog bumbling his way through an election campaign).
I am actually cautiously optimistic and quietly pleased with the result.
i wonder how many cowards would have changed their vote now they know so many have voted ‘no confidence”
To quote the late Windsor Davies…”Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.”
I still can’t work out why Boris seems to think that this vote is a good result. The result is worse than what May, Major, Thatcher had and they had all gone within 6 months of the no confidence vote.
But Boris doesn’t see that, unless its wearing a skirt and Carrie isn’t around
Will the rebels start withdrawing their votes in parliament like happened to finish May?
Or will the rebels calculate it’s better for the party to fall in line for now, whilst Boris uses the extra year to whittle away the influence of known ‘traitors’?
Nothing much has changed since before the vote then, all it has done is confirmed what many would have suspected. Now they will just move their fight into the public for us all to see.
YOU’RE TEARING ME APART ~~lisa~~ BORIS
I am with Napoleon when he said it is not a good idea to interrupt your enemies when they are making mistakes.