“Partygate” scandal: Boris Johnson survives a vote of no confidence from his Conservative Party

The political future of Boris Johnson was played out on Monday in Westminster. The British Prime Minister submitted to a vote of no confidence from his majority. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a vote of no confidence on Monday evening provoked by a revolt from his Conservative Party after the “partygate” scandal. Two years and a half after his triumphant victory at the polls, the 57-year-old leader, increasingly challenged, has once again demonstrated his ability to get out of the most perilous situations. But he remains bogged down in the “partygate” affair, the very drunken parties organized in Downing Street during the confinements, and Monday’s vote showed the deep divisions within the Conservative party. It should leave traces. Of the 359 Conservative MPs who voted, 211 voted in favor of the former mayor of London, against 148 who wanted to oust him, a considerable group of rebels likely to paralyze government action. He hailed a “convincing result” which allows “to move on”. Refusal to resign At the end of 2018, Theresa May had survived a motion of no confidence with a wider margin than her successor, before resigning a few months later, too weakened to lead. Boris Johnson has so far completely refused to resign. After weeks of speculation, events rushed on Monday morning, barely closed the festive parenthesis of the celebrations of the 70 years of reign of Elizabeth II. Conservative Party 1922 Committee Chairman Graham Brady announced that the fateful threshold of 54 letters from MPs, or 15% of the parliamentary group, calling for Boris Johnson to leave had been reached, triggering the vote. , an internal election would have been called to designate a new leader of the party, who would have become head of government, in a delicate context of war in Ukraine and inflation at its highest for 40 years. Victorious, he cannot be targeted by another motion of no confidence for a year, under current rules. of what we are doing for the people of this country,” according to a Conservative Party official. massive public events in recent years in the wake of the pandemic, or more recently the cost of living crisis. “The time has come to recognize that sometimes the government cannot do everything,” he insisted. These explanations, and the efforts made all day by his most loyal ministers on television, have far from convinced everyone. After former minister Jeremy Hunt, considered a possible successor, the leader of the Conservatives in Scotland Douglas Ross had announced he would vote against Mr Johnson, citing public ‘anger’ over breaches of Covid rulesBooed during JubileeDespite mounting scandals and public and majority anger, Boris Johnson has maintained itself in recent months by highlighting in particular its leading role in the Western response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It has also been favored by the absence of an obvious successor in the ranks of the conservatives, in power since 12 a ns in the UK, especially since Finance Minister Rishi Sunak’s star, long a darling of the party, abruptly tarnished due to his wealth and his wife’s tax arrangements, at a time of rising cost of life. Mr Johnson’s slump in popularity has already inflicted heavy setbacks on the Tories in a local election in early May. The majority increasingly doubt the ability of “BoJo”, booed by the crowd during the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, to win the 2024 legislative elections. Britons. According to a poll published by YouGov on Monday, 60% of Britons wanted the Tories to oust their leader – but only 32% of majority voters. The repercussions of “partygate” are not over either. After the police and senior civil servant Sue Gray, another investigation is planned, this one parliamentary. If the latter concludes, a priori in the fall, that Boris Johnson deceived the House of Commons by claiming not to have broken the rules, he is supposed to resign.