Boris Johnson wins confidence vote by 211 votes to 148
Sir Graham Brady, chair of the Conservative 1922 Committee, says 359 votes were cast. There were no spoilt ballots.
Confidence in Boris Johnson: 211
No confidence in Johnson: 148
That means more than 40% of Tory MPs voted against Johnson.
Evening summary
Here’s a roundup of the key developments from this evening:
- Boris Johnson was clinging to his premiership on Monday night after 148 of his MPs voted to oust him from Downing Street in a ballot that exposed potentially fatal rifts within his party. The prime minister won the support of 211 MPs but 41% of his party voted to get rid of him. It was the worst verdict on a sitting prime minister by their own party in recent times.
- In a clip for broadcasters Boris Johnson has described the result as “good news” because, he claimed, it would allow the government to put Partygate behind it and to focus on “what we as a government are doing to help people”. He insisted it was an “extremely good” result despite a worse performance than Theresa May in her confidence vote.
- Keir Starmer said it was “grotesque” that Tory MPs voted to support someone with no sense of duty. He said: “The Conservative party now believes that breaking the law is no impediment to making the law. The Conservative party now believes that the British public have no right to expect honest politicians.”
- Starting an instant spin operation outside the room where the result was announced, the Foreign Office minister James Cleverly called it “a comfortable win” and said rebels should now give up on their efforts. Meanwhile, Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, told Sky News that Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, would be “punching the air” tonight because his ally, Boris Johnson, will remain as PM.
- Tory rebels have vowed to keep trying to force Boris Johnson from office, as the prime minister’s allies admitted he was reaching “the beginning of the end” after a devastating result in Monday night’s confidence vote. They will hold his feet to the fire as the next Partygate inquiry – into whether the prime minister misled parliament by denying any Covid rules were broken in Downing Street – gets under way in the coming weeks.
My colleague Jessica Elgot has written about how the day of infighting played out.
We are closing this liveblog shortly. Thanks so much for joining us.
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Heather Stewart
Boris Johnson’s allies had always said about the vote of no confidence that victory by just one vote was still a win, and he would remain in Downing Street and get on with delivering “the people’s priorities”.
They will no doubt be cracking opening the bubbly on Monday evening. But the truth is that with 148 votes against him, the task of governing is likely to become more, not less difficult in the weeks and months ahead.
As rebel MPs determined to oust him are likely to point out at the earliest opportunity, those 148 rebels dramatically outnumber Johnson’s working majority of 75.
While they are not a coherent group of zealots, of the kind that ultimately saw off Theresa May over Brexit policy, his detractors do share a set of concerns they may now feel emboldened to pursue more vocally – including by withholding their support in the voting lobbies.
Some are irked by the fact the government is on a trajectory towards the highest tax burden since Clement Attlee was in power.
Others have spoken out in recent months about the illiberal nature of Johnson’s government, which has become more marked in recent months as he tried to appease the right wing of his party after his position appeared under threat in January.
The former minister Jesse Norman – biographer of the Conservative intellectual hero Edmund Burke – pointed in his blistering letter on Monday to the plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, and the ban on noisy protests.
Yet more MPs are frustrated at the sense of drift and indecision in the face of a mounting economic crisis – or simply fear for their seats, with a party leader the public appear to be firmly convinced is a proven liar.
Johnson did little to win over the latter group at Monday’s 1922 Committee meeting, where he appeared unrepentant about Partygate, even telling MPs he would attend boozy lockdown leaving bashes again.
Afterwards, one ally delivered an extraordinarily tone deaf briefing to waiting journalists, asking them: “Is there anyone here who hasn’t got pissed in their lives? Is there anyone here who doesn’t like a glass of wine to decompress?”
It is just possible that the bullish Johnson is not feeling as bloody-minded as the briefing suggests, and after the humiliation of being booed outside St Paul’s on Friday, his fragile ego could finally get the better of him and prompt him to resign.
But most colleagues believe he is likely to remain in Downing Street, hoping to bulldoze his way through to the next general election.
Read the full story here:
Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis said Conservative MPs must unite behind Boris Johnson and focus on “making people’s lives better”, after the prime minister survived a vote of confidence.
On why Johnson should remain in Number 10, Lewis told the PA news agency:
Quite simply, look, I’m a democrat, we have had a democratic vote, we had one in 2016, we have to finish delivering the work in Northern Ireland from my job, which comes from Brexit, which we voted for.
(In) 2019, the general public overwhelmingly gave Boris Johnson and our party the support, beyond anything we have seen since the height of Margaret Thatcher.
He has won the vote tonight, we have got to come back together now, focus on the job and be focused on making the people’s lives better tomorrow and in the future.
That’s what his focus is, that’s where all our focus should be.
Full story: Tory rebels vow to keep trying to topple Johnson after no-confidence vote win
Aubrey Allegretti
Tory rebels have vowed to keep trying to force Boris Johnson from office, as the prime minister’s allies admitted he was reaching “the beginning of the end” after a devastating result in Monday night’s confidence vote.
Johnson’s struggle to hold his divided party together will become more intense, with some of the 148 MPs, or 40%, who voted against him said to be “implacably opposed” to his premiership.
They will hold his feet to the fire as the next Partygate inquiry – into whether the prime minister misled parliament by denying any Covid rules were broken in Downing Street – gets under way in the coming weeks.
Several rebel MPs boasted the government whipping operation had been “appalling” and appeared to collapse under the weight of Monday night’s rebellion, meaning Johnson was now on “borrowed time”.
The divide between those backing and opposing Johnson threatens to derail Downing Street’s attempts to draw a line under the humiliating episode.
Though the majority of Tory MPs supported the prime minister, a significant number voted to oust him in the secret ballot held by the 1922 Committee. The result had echoes of another confidence ballot in 2018, when Theresa May won the support of two-thirds of her party but was left irrevocably damaged.
Government sources insisted the margin of Johnson’s victory did not matter, with one cabinet minister saying “a win is a win”. They said that given the result, the rebels needed to either “change the rules or shut the fuck up”.
Other allies of Johnson said drastic action was needed to restore discipline, such as sacking anyone on the government payroll who remained conspicuously silent on Monday while colleagues tweeted their support.
Though MPs were forbidden from taking pictures of their ballot paper to prove they had voted to support the prime minister, many were told to make public statements.
Read more here:
The front pages of the papers have been released.
Unsurprisingly, Boris Johnson and the results of the confidence vote dominate the UK papers.
Here’s our splash:
Here are the others. The Telegraph calls the result a “hollow victory” that “tears Tories apart”.
The Daily Star, in a very colourful front page, have called Johnson Pinocchio.
The Daily Mirror, who helped break the news about Partygate, says simply: “Party’s over, Boris.”
The Metro went for the same messaging.
Meanwhile The Sun have dubbed the evening the “Night of the blond knives”.
Using a close up of Johnson looking deeply unhappy, the Times describes him as “A wounded victor”.
The i Paper also says he is wounded and that he is “in peril”.
The Daily Mail is the most supportive of the papers and says the 148 rebels have hit the “self destruct button” while the headlines reads: “Boris vows: I’ll bash on.”
It is “always disappointing” when there is a “significant minority of your own party voting in such a way”, the environment secretary, George Eustice, has said.
Speaking to the PA news agency on the result of the confidence vote, Eustice said:
The prime minister won this confidence vote, but, of course, it is always disappointing when you have a significant minority of your own party voting in such a way.
So, we have won this vote. We, as a party, we all stood on the same manifesto with the same legislative agenda. What we really need to do now is focus on mending fences, reconciling the party, pulling the party back together so we can all deliver what we were elected to do.
Eustice said the result “underlines that as a government we have got to work very hard to reconnect with our own parliamentary party to reunite them behind the agenda we were all elected to deliver”.
He added:
The prime minister has already started that process, decisions such as the appointment of Steve Barclay as his chief of staff have been a big change, only made only a few months ago and it will take time for that to filter through.
But I am aware of people today who said, although they were voting against the prime minister, had he made this change and had a different approach to the parliamentary party a year ago, they might have felt differently. We just need to keep doubling down on that work, reconnect with the party and make sure we go ahead together to deliver on the shared agenda.
Conservative former cabinet minister David Davis has said the confidence vote in Boris Johnson was “premature”.
Asked what he thought of the result, Davis said:
I am unsurprised. You will have heard me earlier saying this was a premature vote.
People used to say ‘have you put your letter in?’ I said ‘no, it’s not appropriate at this point in time because this was the predictable outcome’. We are now left with a slight limbo for a year. And, of course, we have still got the Privileges Committee hanging.
When asked if he concerned by the result, Davis told PA News:
No. The party has made its decision and, you know, it’s fair enough. It’s what I thought they would decide. I didn’t know what the majority would be but I thought he would win. And that’s the outcome we have got.
On Nadine Dorries’ claims that Johnson was being targeted by a “well-organised campaign”, Davis said:
I think I would know if it was organised. And no. Not at all. I think you probably got ten different factions. All the very different candidates. They will be talking to each other. So, no. It is almost a definition of disorganisation.
PA News has this report on the impact so-called payroll votes may have had on the results of the confidence vote.
As many as four in five of the MPs who backed Boris Johnson in the confidence vote may have been on the so-called government “payroll”.
Between 160 and 170 MPs currently hold government roles, such as ministers and parliamentary private secretaries, according to analysis by the Institute for Government.
It would be hoped by Downing Street that all of these MPs would have backed Johnson in the confidence vote.
Were this the case, around 80% of the 211 MPs who voted for the prime minister in Monday’s ballot could be said to have done so chiefly out of duty rather than loyalty.
The rest of the 211 MPs who said they had confidence in Johnson will have been backbench MPs who are not on the payroll.
But with as many as 170 payroll votes supporting the prime minister, the figures suggest only a few dozen non-payroll votes also voted in favour, implying that Johnson has lost the confidence of the majority of the Conservative backbenchers.
Boris Johnson insisted it was an “extremely good” result despite a worse performance than Theresa May in the confidence vote.
He told reporters in Downing Street:
I think it’s an extremely good, positive, conclusive, decisive result which enables us to move on, to unite and to focus on delivery and that is exactly what we are going to do.
He ruled out a snap election in order to gain a new mandate from the public, insisting he was focused on the public’s priorities.
The prime minister said:
I see no point in focusing on anything else and I’m certainly not interested in snap elections. What I’m interested in is delivering right now for the people of this country.
Nicola Sturgeon has pointed out that only only two of the 59 Scottish MPs have confidence in the prime minister.
She called Boris Johnson “an utterly lame duck” prime minister.
That result is surely the worst of all worlds for the Tories. But much more importantly: at a time of huge challenge, it saddles the UK with an utterly lame duck PM. And for Scotland, it just underlines the democratic deficit – only 2 of 🏴 59 MPs have confidence in the PM. https://t.co/2EQE5LSYWL
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) June 6, 2022
Here is my colleague Martin Kettle’s analysis of the results tonight.
He said:
After a snap contest whose abbreviated timetable was tailored to his advantage, Boris Johnson won the vote of confidence tonight only by 211 to 148 votes, with all 359 Conservative MPs casting ballots. It is a win, but it is also a disaster for the prime minister.
The real victor in the 2022 Tory leadership confidence vote was not Johnson. He is irreparably damaged. Politicians don’t recover from such things. Nor was the victor the Conservative party. The winners were the parties of opposition: Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the nationalists.
That is because, with the unpopular Johnson losing his electoral allure but now reconfirmed, but only just, as Tory leader, the opposition parties are now on course to oust the Conservatives from office in the next general election. A new Tory leader might have had time to rebuild the party’s image. Johnson cannot do that.
Read more here:
Nicola Slawson
The SNP’s leader in Westminster has said Douglas Ross’ position as the Scottish Tory leader is “completely untenable” after Boris Johnson won a vote of confidence.
Ian Blackford, after the result was announced, said:
Tory MPs should have drawn a line under Boris Johnson’s disastrous time as prime minister but instead they’ve bottled it – allowing this damaging circus to continue and leaving the Westminster government in crisis.
The UK is now stuck in limbo with a lame duck prime minister who has lost the confidence of the public – and more than forty per cent of his own MPs – and is left limping around on borrowed time while the Tory party descends into bitter division.
As for Douglas Ross, his position is completely untenable. If he had any principles or dignity he should quit as Scottish Tory leader. He has made himself look utterly ridiculous by flip-flopping over Boris Johnson’s future and will have no authority or credibility if he tries to cling on.
This is Nicola Slawson and I’m taking over from Andrew for the next few hours and will be covering the reaction to tonight’s results.
Starmer says voters now face choice between united Labour and divided Tory party
Andrew Sparrow
In a statement Keir Starmer for broadcasters said it was “grotesque” that Tory MPs voted to support someone with no sense of duty. He said:
Conservative MPs made their choice tonight.
They have ignored the British public and hitched themselves and their party firmly to Boris Johnson and all he represents.
The Conservative party now believes that good government focused on improving lives is too much to ask.
The Conservative party now believes that breaking the law is no impediment to making the law.
The Conservative party now believes that the British public have no right to expect honest politicians.
Over the weekend the whole country celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
It was a tribute to 70 years of humility, decency and respect.
A reminder of our common cause to build a better a country for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren.
It is grotesque that the very next day the Conservative party has chosen to throw that sense of duty and those values on the bonfire.
Starmer also said the choice in British politics was clearer than ever before. He said:
A Labour party united under my leadership with a plan to ensure Britain is never again plunged into a cost of living crisis, focused on growing the economy so that we can afford world class schools and hospitals, and determined to restore trust in politics.
Or a Conservative party that is divided, propping up Boris Johnson with no plan to tackle the issues facing you and your family.
I don’t claim that I or my party will get everything right, but I promise that when we don’t we will always be honest with you.
We will prioritise your prosperity and your security, and we will treat you with the respect you deserve from your politicians.
This sounds like an update of David Cameron’s famous tweet before the 2015 general election saying the country faced a choice between his strong and stable government or “chaos with Ed Miliband”. That turned out to be one of the most hopeless predictions in modern politics.
That is all from me for today. My collaegue Nicola Slawson is taking over now.
From my colleague Jessica Elgot
One plugged-in MP who runs the numbers tells me they believe at least 40% of the 2019 MPs voted against the prime minister tonight. (Not that we can ever really check if they are right…)
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) June 6, 2022
Here is my colleague John Crace’s sketch on today’s no-confidence vote.
And here is John’s conclusion.
At 9pm on the dot, Brady announced the result. 211 for, 148 against. As expected The Convict had won the vote but lost the leadership. Worse even than the Maybot back in 2018. Johnson would say he was going to hang on – he’s a bad loser – but there was no coming back from this. It may be weeks, it may be months but Boris is toast. And the Tories would spend the time fighting each other to the death. While the country is on its knees. At a standstill. What a legacy. Johnson must be so proud.
Johnson claims result is ‘good news’ because it will allow government to move on from Partygate
In a clip for broadcasters Boris Johnson has described the result as “good news” because, he claimed, it would allow the government to put Partygate behind it and to focus on “what we as a government are doing to help people”.
He said that he had the support of a greater proportion of his parliamentary colleagues than when he stood for the leadership in 2019.
Asked if he would rule out a snap election, Johnson sidestepped the question, and repeated the point about how he would now be able to focus on the issues important to him, not issues of interest to the media.
Pressed again about a snap election, he said he was “certainly not interested in snap elections”.
Asked if this was the best possible result for the Labour party, David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, told Sky News that this was an issue that was beyond party politics and that Boris Johnson should have left office some time ago.
Many commentators would argue that this isn’t beyond party politics, and that in fact it is a terrific result for Labour.
Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, told Sky News that Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, would be “punching the air” tonight because his ally, Boris Johnson, will remain as PM tomorrow.
Reference-www.theguardian.com