UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson narrowly survived a vote of no confidence triggered by lawmakers of Johnson’s own party in the country’s legislative body on Monday.
Johnson faced the vote due to a number of scandals he was involved in, most infamously the Partygate scandal in which he and members of his government held parties during COVID-related lockdowns during the early part of the pandemic.
The final tally was 211 in favor and 148 voting against him, but experts say that he likely isn’t out of the weeds just yet, pointing to former prime minister Theresa May who survived a similar vote in 2018 by a higher margin and then resigned only six months later.
Key comments:
“What it means is as a government we can move on and focus on the stuff that I think really matters to people,” Johnson said after the vote. “I’m grateful to colleagues and the support they’ve given me. What we need to do now is come together as a government and a party, and that is exactly what we can now do.”
“The choice is clearer than ever before: Divided Tories propping up Boris Johnson with no plan to tackle the issues you are facing. Or a united Labour Party with a plan to fix the cost of living crisis and restore trust in politics,” tweeted Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the UKs Labour party. “Labour will get Britain back on track.”
