Partygate: British PM Boris Johnson survives a vote of no confidence

Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, survived a vote of confidence in his leadership on Monday, with 211 Conservative Party members voting to keep him as their leader.

However, 148 Tory members of Parliament voted against Johnson, resulting in a 58.8% for and 41.2 percent against vote, which Johnson said was overwhelmingly in his favor.

His critics have labeled the figure as a negative for his long-term prospects as the party’s leader, while his defenders point out that he has the support of the majority of his party.

In response to the election, Johnson said, “I think this is a really excellent result for politics and for the country.”

“Just in this sense, I believe it is a convincing, decisive result, and it means that as a government, we can go on and focus on the issues that I believe are most important to people.” For example, I have a significantly larger mandate from my own parliamentary colleagues than I did in 2019,” he claimed.

Despite the searing partygate scandal of COVID law-breaking parties at Downing Street and across government offices, Johnson, 57, made personal pleas to his party backbenchers to preserve their faith in him as Prime Minister, bringing an end to a hectic day of political high drama and conjecture.