Boris Johnson narrowly survives UK Conservative confidence vote: is that a political victory now? † Abroad

Party leader and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has won the confidence vote of his own British Conservative Party, albeit narrowly. Does this also mean that his political career has been saved for good? “A mathematical victory is not the same as a political victory,” writes the BBC. The previous British Prime Minister, Theresa May, won her confidence vote more easily, but had to resign within six months and make way for Boris Johnson.

A majority of the Conservative faction in the House of Commons still has confidence in Prime Minister Boris Johnson and has voted down a no-confidence vote against him. Of the 359 Conservative MPs, 211 voted for the prime minister and 148 against. The estimate in advance was that it would be very difficult for Johnson from 144 votes against. He got four more against, and is doing worse than Theresa May in 2018. She then won by 200 votes to 117, taking 63 percent of the vote.

At least 15 percent of Conservative MPs in the House of Commons had called for a confidence vote on Boris Johnson. This meant that the party board had to submit the motion of no confidence to the entire faction. Johnson won the vote tonight: a majority of the faction remained behind him. At least 180 MPs had to vote in favor of the no-confidence motion to get him out and that didn’t happen. That means Boris Johnson will remain party leader and also Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

In principle, Johnson has been ‘safe’ for a year and he will certainly remain party and government leader that year, because the Tories have to let at least a year pass before they can ask for a new confidence vote. But according to our foreign journalist, Romina Van Camp, the vote of confidence he won tonight will still hang like a weight around his neck. “The question then is how long he will be able to carry that weight,” said Van Camp.

His critics view the booing the Prime Minister was treated to at St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday as proof that the people do not just swallow ‘party gate’. ‘Partygate’ refers to the scandal surrounding all kinds of parties by government employees during the lockdowns in Britain. When those parties became publicized, Johnson’s position began to falter.

Dissatisfaction with Johnson’s behavior also increased within his own party. They especially fall for the unpredictable character of Boris Johnson and distrust the eccentric politician more and more, just like the voter. According to some MPs, it’s simple: either the party put Johnson aside or the voter will do so in the next election, leaving the British Conservatives no longer up to the next government. That first one didn’t happen.

In any case, there seems to be a consensus that confidence votes have never been welcomed by the political leaders who have to undergo them.

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