UK’s Boris Johnson wins confidence vote but suffers big rebellion

• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived a confidence vote on Monday.
• 148 of his 359 Conservative Party legislators backed a challenge to his leadership.
• His predecessor, Theresa May, was ousted after a party-room scandal over alcohol-fueled parties and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

LONDON – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived a confidence vote on Monday, but his authority was severely harmed by a mutiny by 148 of his 359 Conservative Party legislators.

For Johnson to be removed, a majority of Conservative legislators — at least 180 — would have to vote against him.

Johnson received 59 percent of his parliamentarians’ support, which is lower than the support provided to his predecessor Theresa May in a confidence vote in 2018.

After winning a landslide election victory in 2019, Prime Minister Theresa May has come under fire for hosting alcohol-fueled parties in his Downing Street office and residence when the UK was under stringent COVID-19 lockdowns.

Because of the outrage, the party launched a challenge, requiring an anonymous vote of confidence in a leader who had previously been untouchable.

As a result of the move, members of the party’s various wings revealed that they had turned against their leader. By remaining in office, the prime minister, according to one erstwhile ally, is insulting both the public and the party.

Before the vote, Jesse Norman, a former junior minister, said, “You presided over a culture of casual law-breaking at 10 Downing Street in connection to COVID.”

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John Penrose, Johnson’s anti-corruption chief, also resigned.

Several Conservative members have expressed fear that Johnson, 57, may lose his authority to manage Britain, which is experiencing recession, rising gasoline and food prices, and strike-induced travel mayhem in London.

But his cabinet of senior ministers rallied around him, praising what they called the government’s achievements, such as the speedy distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and the British response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Johnson promised his party’s lawmakers just hours before the election that he would boost the economy and revert to basic Conservative ideas like tax cuts.

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