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The British Prime Minister survives an attempt to unseat him from his own party, but with his position significantly weakened

1 min ago

Boris Johnson says it’s “good news” that 59% of his MPs supported him

Boris Johnson has attempted to spin his narrow confidence vote victory as a positive, describing the outcome as “good news.”

“I think it’s an extremely good, positive, conclusive, decisive result which enables us to move on to unite,” Johnson said in an interview shortly after the vote.

“What it means is that as a government, we can move on and focus on the stuff that really matters to people,” Johnson said.

He added that the result gives his government “an opportunity to put behind us all the stuff that people in the media like going on about.”

Johnson said he was “not interested” in calling a snap general election — although he declined the chance to definitively rule one out.

He will however, have to contend with the fact that a significant portion of his own party wants him out — a situation that has claimed the careers of some of his predecessors.

22 min ago

Labour leader says Conservative MPs “ignored the British public” following confidence vote

Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said “divided Tories” have propped up Boris Johnson’s government and that Conservative MPs “have ignored the British public.”

In a tweet, Starmer said Johnson has “no plan to tackle the issues you are facing.”

In a statement shortly after Johnson narrowly survived his confidence vote, Starmer said: “The Conservative party now believes that good government, focused on improving lives, is too much to ask.”

Johnson losing the support of more than 40% of his own party has gifted Labour a talking point that they will be eager to remind the electorate.

“Boris Johnson is now walking wounded,” Labour’s shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the BBC after the vote.

36 min ago

Boris Johnson suffered a large rebellion from his own MPs

After febrile speculation about the number of Conservative MPs who would vote against Johnson, the final figure who rebelled against him was higher than many expected.

A staggering 148 of his own lawmakers decided they had no confidence in Johnson’s leadership, against 211 who support him.

That means 58.6% of Conservative MPs backed him — a worse result than former Prime Minister Theresa May, who had the support of 63% of her lawmakers (200, in a much smaller parliamentary party) when she faced a confidence vote in 2018.

May survived just six months further in the job, before ultimately being forced to resign.

53 min ago

Johnson wins confidence vote by 211 to 148

Boris Johnson will survive in his role as Britain’s Prime Minister, but his authority has imploded after narrowly fighting off a confidence vote in his leadership. 

211 MPs supported Johnson in the vote, against 148 who voted against him.

He will likely seek to frame the result as a chance to move on, but the slim margin of victory means his job security remains in peril.

51 min ago

BREAKING: Boris Johnson survives confidence vote

(Pool/AFP)
(Pool/AFP)

Boris Johnson has won his confidence vote, with a majority of Conservative MPs deciding to stick with the Prime Minister.

1 hr 23 min ago

A result is expected soon. But what happens next?

Boris Johnson can continue as Conservative leader and Britain’s Prime Minister if he wins tonight’s vote. But the margin of victory is crucial: If a significant amount of his own party’s lawmakers oppose him, his authority will be shattered.

If he loses the vote, party rules require him to step down.

A leadership election will then get underway, and as the Conservatives are the UK’s ruling party, the winner of that election will also become Prime Minister.

Here’s a reminder of the ins and outs of that process:

1 hr 54 min ago

Voting has closed in Boris Johnson’s confidence vote

The two-hour voting window for Conservative MPs has closed.

Boris Johnson now faces a nervous wait for ballots to be counted; we’ll find out at 9 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET) whether he’s survived his confidence vote.

2 hr 30 min ago

No-one in the Conservative Party thinks tonight will end well

Analysis by CNN’s Luke McGee in London

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seen during an address to the nation in February 21 in London.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seen during an address to the nation in February 21 in London. (Tolga Akmen/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Voting has been underway for an hour and Conservative MPs appear to be in a strange mood.

No one, friend or foe, thinks tonight will end well. MPs awaiting the results are drinking on the House of Commons terrace, a spot that overlooks the river Thames and London Eye.

A handful of opposition MPs are also here to observe the spectacle.

Johnson’s allies believe he will win, but with a margin that is far from convincing and will not allow them to move on from the Partygate scandal.

Johnson-skeptics, meanwhile, are resigned to the idea that the Prime Minister will win and ultimately do more harm to the party.

They are annoyed that the vote is happening today rather than further down the line when potential replacements could be better prepared and the case for removing him more compelling, such as after the end of the month’s by-elections.

The margin of victory numerous MPs have said they are looking at is 80. Anything less than that and Johnson’s overall parliamentary majority is in peril.

Regardless, all sides seem to accept that things are bad and that turning around the fortunes of the Conservative Party will take more than Johnson surviving a vote among his own MPs.

Which, in the long run, means Johnson still has much to fix if he’s to save his premiership.

3 hr 55 min ago

Conservative MPs have started voting on Boris Johnson’s future

The Conservative Party’s confidence vote in their leader Boris Johnson is underway.

Tory MPs have two hours to cast their votes in Parliament, and the result will be announced an hour after that, at 9 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET).

Source: https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/boris-johnson-no-confidence-vote-06-06-2022