Boris Johnson Badly Wounded but Narrowly Survives Jubilee Coup
Born Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson in New York in 1964, Johnson’s first stated ambition as a child was to be “world king.” He never quite managed that but did manage to climb the greasy pole of British politics after a career in journalism, serving two terms as mayor of London and correctly judging the mood of the disaffected working class in the 2016 vote on U.K membership of the European Union.
Since assuming the top job in 2019, he has done his very best to demean the nation’s highest office, suspending parliament without consulting Queen Elizabeth to get his Brexit legislation through, and then partying through lockdown at Downing Street despite passing laws stopping ordinary citizens from even burying their dead in a civilized manner. It was that scandal, dubbed “Partygate,” which has done him the most damage.
Brady called the no-confidence vote early Monday morning after confirming that 15 percent of the Tory parliamentary party—54 Members of Parliament (MPs)—had sent in letters triggering a contest. The clinching factor for some of those objectors appeared to be that Johnson and his wife had been so loudly booed as they arrived at St. Paul’s Cathedral last Friday to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee.
Of the 14 prime ministers the queen has dealt with through her 70-year reign, starting with Winston Churchill, Johnson is widely thought to be her least favorite, disrespectful of national institutions and an inveterate liar to boot.
Having Johnson booted out the day after her jubilee weekend might have been the perfect jubilee present for the 96-year-old monarch. But even though she missed much of the celebrations for health reasons, she still looks like a good bet to welcome her 15th prime minister before the end of her historic reign.
In an interview with BBC News, Johnson described the voting numbers as an “extremely good, positive, decisive result” that would allow the government to “move on and focus on the stuff that matters.”
But few would agree. Johnson's performance was markedly worse than that of his predecessor, Theresa May, when she faced a confidence vote in December 2018. May was supported by two-thirds of Tory MPs but was forced from office only months later.
The saving grace for Johnson, if we can come back to the Caesarean analogy, is that this remains an assassination attempt without a clear assassin. No clear successor to Johnson has yet emerged; the frontrunner, former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, is an unlikely Brutus.
Rory Stewart, the former diplomat, adventurer, and Tory MP who now serves as a fellow at Yale, pointed out that most of those who voted for Johnson were on the government's payroll—parliamentary secretaries, junior ministers, and ministers.
He tweeted: “Remove the 'payroll' vote—and look at the free vote from backbenchers. Almost 75% of all Tory MPs not dependent on his patronage voted against him. This is the end for Boris Johnson. The only question is how long the agony is prolonged.”
Camilla Tominey
Mon, June 6, 2022
The Prime Minister sitting with Mike Tindall on Sunday as he watched the Platinum Pageant in London - the day before the confidence vote - CHRIS JACKSON
The Cabinet and payroll might have rallied (although Priti Patel’s tweet of support was conspicuous by its absence), but the numbers suggest the MPs who did secretly "back Boris" were unwilling to admit to it.
Even the so-called “greased piglet” is going to struggle to let that one slip, no matter how Teflon-coated he may be.
Mrs May, Sir John Major and most famously Margaret Thatcher all found to their cost that once Conservatives smell blood, a slow and painful death normally ensues.
Whether Mr Johnson can successfully apply a tourniquet appears to rely on several factors.
While his approval ratings may be at an all time low - even among ConHome readers - pollsters have been at pains to point out that his unpopularity is not unusual for a midterm Prime Minister. Downing Street could argue that a YouGov survey suggesting more than half of Tory voters (53 per cent) want to keep him as PM - not to mention the fact that Labour is only six points ahead - shows this result has finally burst the Westminster bubble. Cue much more talk of this “drawing a line” under partygate (despite the ongoing Privileges Committee investigation) and “focusing on what really matters to people.”
Lack of viable alternative only thing keeping PM in place
If, like the local elections, the two imminent by-elections are not as catastrophic as CCHQ is frantically briefing then that could also help. (Seriously heavy defeats could prompt the 1922 Committee to change the rules on not holding another confidence vote for 12 months).
A reshuffle seems unlikely following such a show of ministerial loyalty but a policy blitz – including a reverse ferret on the universally despised Health and Social Care Levy – could help win over the growing number of Tories upset by the Government’s tax-and-spend approach to the cost of living crisis.
A speech, laying out his vision for how Britain might “take advantage of our news freedoms, cut costs and drive growth,” as he stated in his begging letter to colleagues, would not go amiss either.
As it stands, the only thing really keeping the Prime Minister in place right now is the lack of a viable alternative. The vultures, however, are circling. It is going to take a unique amount of doggedness to bring this disobedient party to heel.
Almost 75% of all Tory MPs not dependent on his patronage voted against him.
Philippe Naughton
Mon, June 6, 2022
One of Boris Johnson’s predecessors as Tory leader once described the Conservative Party as “an absolute monarchy moderated by regicide.” When the king or queen is no longer a winner, then out come the knives.
Johnson, the tousle-headed Old Etonian classicist, narrowly survived his own ‘Et tu, Brute?’ moment on Monday after securing the votes of 211 of 359 Conservative lawmakers in a no-confidence vote triggered by backbench anger at his scandal-ridden leadership.
“The result of the ballot held this evening is that the parliamentary party does have confidence in the prime minister” said Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, which represents the interests of Tory backbenchers, as he announced the results to lawmakers.
Make no mistake, however: Johnson is mortally wounded, despite officially surviving the Tories’ jubilee coup. Caesar was stabbed 23 times in that fateful meeting of the Roman Senate on March 15, 44 A.D. On June 6, 2022, Johnson was stabbed 148 times; 41 percent of Tory lawmakers voted against him. He clings to power, but the die is cast.
Philippe Naughton
Mon, June 6, 2022
One of Boris Johnson’s predecessors as Tory leader once described the Conservative Party as “an absolute monarchy moderated by regicide.” When the king or queen is no longer a winner, then out come the knives.
Johnson, the tousle-headed Old Etonian classicist, narrowly survived his own ‘Et tu, Brute?’ moment on Monday after securing the votes of 211 of 359 Conservative lawmakers in a no-confidence vote triggered by backbench anger at his scandal-ridden leadership.
“The result of the ballot held this evening is that the parliamentary party does have confidence in the prime minister” said Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, which represents the interests of Tory backbenchers, as he announced the results to lawmakers.
Make no mistake, however: Johnson is mortally wounded, despite officially surviving the Tories’ jubilee coup. Caesar was stabbed 23 times in that fateful meeting of the Roman Senate on March 15, 44 A.D. On June 6, 2022, Johnson was stabbed 148 times; 41 percent of Tory lawmakers voted against him. He clings to power, but the die is cast.
Born Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson in New York in 1964, Johnson’s first stated ambition as a child was to be “world king.” He never quite managed that but did manage to climb the greasy pole of British politics after a career in journalism, serving two terms as mayor of London and correctly judging the mood of the disaffected working class in the 2016 vote on U.K membership of the European Union.
Since assuming the top job in 2019, he has done his very best to demean the nation’s highest office, suspending parliament without consulting Queen Elizabeth to get his Brexit legislation through, and then partying through lockdown at Downing Street despite passing laws stopping ordinary citizens from even burying their dead in a civilized manner. It was that scandal, dubbed “Partygate,” which has done him the most damage.
Brady called the no-confidence vote early Monday morning after confirming that 15 percent of the Tory parliamentary party—54 Members of Parliament (MPs)—had sent in letters triggering a contest. The clinching factor for some of those objectors appeared to be that Johnson and his wife had been so loudly booed as they arrived at St. Paul’s Cathedral last Friday to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee.
Of the 14 prime ministers the queen has dealt with through her 70-year reign, starting with Winston Churchill, Johnson is widely thought to be her least favorite, disrespectful of national institutions and an inveterate liar to boot.
Having Johnson booted out the day after her jubilee weekend might have been the perfect jubilee present for the 96-year-old monarch. But even though she missed much of the celebrations for health reasons, she still looks like a good bet to welcome her 15th prime minister before the end of her historic reign.
In an interview with BBC News, Johnson described the voting numbers as an “extremely good, positive, decisive result” that would allow the government to “move on and focus on the stuff that matters.”
But few would agree. Johnson's performance was markedly worse than that of his predecessor, Theresa May, when she faced a confidence vote in December 2018. May was supported by two-thirds of Tory MPs but was forced from office only months later.
The saving grace for Johnson, if we can come back to the Caesarean analogy, is that this remains an assassination attempt without a clear assassin. No clear successor to Johnson has yet emerged; the frontrunner, former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, is an unlikely Brutus.
Rory Stewart, the former diplomat, adventurer, and Tory MP who now serves as a fellow at Yale, pointed out that most of those who voted for Johnson were on the government's payroll—parliamentary secretaries, junior ministers, and ministers.
He tweeted: “Remove the 'payroll' vote—and look at the free vote from backbenchers. Almost 75% of all Tory MPs not dependent on his patronage voted against him. This is the end for Boris Johnson. The only question is how long the agony is prolonged.”
Boris Johnson may have won, but the vultures are circling
Boris Johnson won Monday's no confidence vote with 211 to 148 votes
Camilla Tominey
Mon, June 6, 2022
ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
When Boris Johnson once joked that he had discovered “there are no disasters, only opportunities for fresh disasters”, he appeared to be channelling Churchill’s quote about an optimist finding opportunity in every difficulty.
While there is no doubt the Prime Minister is a glass-half-full kind of politician, the bruising nature of Monday's 211 to 148 confidence vote will have taken the trademark spring from his step.
Winning by a majority of just 63, short of his 80-seat general election majority, represents one of the worst ever confidence "victories" for a sitting prime minister, calling his authority into serious question.
And those who best know Mr Johnson understand that while he may have won this particular battle, he is not going to willingly lead the Conservatives into a war he cannot win.
Having defied the odds to secure the London mayoralty - not once but twice - before triumphing in the EU referendum and going on to deliver the Conservatives’ biggest mandate in 40 years at the last general election, losing simply isn’t something “Big Dog” does. It is why he pulled out of the 2016 leadership race and why it still rankles that he didn’t get a first at Oxford.
Until Monday, it was suggested that the Prime Minister would have to be dragged out of Downing Street “kicking and screaming”, but if he fears this “win” will soon translate into a “loss”, then he is unlikely to give himself the opportunity for a fresh disaster.
As Sir Winston’s biographer, Mr Johnson needs no lessons in voters’ penchant for punishing even those who have delivered world peace. A cost of living crisis already stands in the way of possible victory come 2024 - now he must add a mutinous and divided party into the mix.
An optimist’s 12-month reprieve is a pessimist’s death sentence, not least when we all know a week is a long time in politics.
The rebels may not have landed the fatal blow they intended, but history shows losing the confidence of even a minority of MPs can prove mortally wounding.
Jacob Rees-Mogg may argue that “just one vote is enough”, but it wasn’t long ago that he declared it a “terrible result” that a third of Theresa May’s MPs had voted against her in 2016. “Under all constitutional norms she ought to go and see the Queen urgently and resign", he insisted.
Theresa May resigned months after she won her own confidence vote in December 2018
When Boris Johnson once joked that he had discovered “there are no disasters, only opportunities for fresh disasters”, he appeared to be channelling Churchill’s quote about an optimist finding opportunity in every difficulty.
While there is no doubt the Prime Minister is a glass-half-full kind of politician, the bruising nature of Monday's 211 to 148 confidence vote will have taken the trademark spring from his step.
Winning by a majority of just 63, short of his 80-seat general election majority, represents one of the worst ever confidence "victories" for a sitting prime minister, calling his authority into serious question.
And those who best know Mr Johnson understand that while he may have won this particular battle, he is not going to willingly lead the Conservatives into a war he cannot win.
Having defied the odds to secure the London mayoralty - not once but twice - before triumphing in the EU referendum and going on to deliver the Conservatives’ biggest mandate in 40 years at the last general election, losing simply isn’t something “Big Dog” does. It is why he pulled out of the 2016 leadership race and why it still rankles that he didn’t get a first at Oxford.
Until Monday, it was suggested that the Prime Minister would have to be dragged out of Downing Street “kicking and screaming”, but if he fears this “win” will soon translate into a “loss”, then he is unlikely to give himself the opportunity for a fresh disaster.
As Sir Winston’s biographer, Mr Johnson needs no lessons in voters’ penchant for punishing even those who have delivered world peace. A cost of living crisis already stands in the way of possible victory come 2024 - now he must add a mutinous and divided party into the mix.
An optimist’s 12-month reprieve is a pessimist’s death sentence, not least when we all know a week is a long time in politics.
The rebels may not have landed the fatal blow they intended, but history shows losing the confidence of even a minority of MPs can prove mortally wounding.
Jacob Rees-Mogg may argue that “just one vote is enough”, but it wasn’t long ago that he declared it a “terrible result” that a third of Theresa May’s MPs had voted against her in 2016. “Under all constitutional norms she ought to go and see the Queen urgently and resign", he insisted.
Theresa May resigned months after she won her own confidence vote in December 2018
- Stefan Rousseau
Six years on and Mr Johnson on Monday found himself in the unenviable position of not even having enough publicly declared supporters by the time the voting began at 6pm. He was 33 votes short of the 180 needed to save his premiership.
By comparison, Mrs May went into her confidence ballot safe in the knowledge that she could guarantee victory (albeit short-lived).
As the Downing Street spin machine went into overdrive to fortify the Prime Minister’s fanbase on Monday, it must have worried No 10 that so few Tories were willing to give their patronage on the record.
Six years on and Mr Johnson on Monday found himself in the unenviable position of not even having enough publicly declared supporters by the time the voting began at 6pm. He was 33 votes short of the 180 needed to save his premiership.
By comparison, Mrs May went into her confidence ballot safe in the knowledge that she could guarantee victory (albeit short-lived).
As the Downing Street spin machine went into overdrive to fortify the Prime Minister’s fanbase on Monday, it must have worried No 10 that so few Tories were willing to give their patronage on the record.
The Prime Minister sitting with Mike Tindall on Sunday as he watched the Platinum Pageant in London - the day before the confidence vote - CHRIS JACKSON
The Cabinet and payroll might have rallied (although Priti Patel’s tweet of support was conspicuous by its absence), but the numbers suggest the MPs who did secretly "back Boris" were unwilling to admit to it.
Even the so-called “greased piglet” is going to struggle to let that one slip, no matter how Teflon-coated he may be.
Mrs May, Sir John Major and most famously Margaret Thatcher all found to their cost that once Conservatives smell blood, a slow and painful death normally ensues.
Whether Mr Johnson can successfully apply a tourniquet appears to rely on several factors.
While his approval ratings may be at an all time low - even among ConHome readers - pollsters have been at pains to point out that his unpopularity is not unusual for a midterm Prime Minister. Downing Street could argue that a YouGov survey suggesting more than half of Tory voters (53 per cent) want to keep him as PM - not to mention the fact that Labour is only six points ahead - shows this result has finally burst the Westminster bubble. Cue much more talk of this “drawing a line” under partygate (despite the ongoing Privileges Committee investigation) and “focusing on what really matters to people.”
Lack of viable alternative only thing keeping PM in place
If, like the local elections, the two imminent by-elections are not as catastrophic as CCHQ is frantically briefing then that could also help. (Seriously heavy defeats could prompt the 1922 Committee to change the rules on not holding another confidence vote for 12 months).
A reshuffle seems unlikely following such a show of ministerial loyalty but a policy blitz – including a reverse ferret on the universally despised Health and Social Care Levy – could help win over the growing number of Tories upset by the Government’s tax-and-spend approach to the cost of living crisis.
A speech, laying out his vision for how Britain might “take advantage of our news freedoms, cut costs and drive growth,” as he stated in his begging letter to colleagues, would not go amiss either.
As it stands, the only thing really keeping the Prime Minister in place right now is the lack of a viable alternative. The vultures, however, are circling. It is going to take a unique amount of doggedness to bring this disobedient party to heel.
Eric Stober and Sean Boynton
© AP Photo/Matt Dunham
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, in London, Wednesday, May 25, 2022.
Boris Johnson narrowly won a no-confidence vote Monday and will remain as the U.K.'s prime minister, despite more than 40 per cent of his party's MPs voting against him.
Johnson received support from 211 Conservative MPs — just 30 more ballots than the 180 needed to survive the vote. Every Tory MP cast a ballot. Forty-one per cent of the caucus, or 148 MPs, voted against the prime minister.
He still called the result "decisive" and claimed it proved more of his party's MPs support him now than they did when he was elected in 2019. He added he is not interested in holding a snap election.
"I think it's a convincing result, a decisive result and what it means is that as a government we can move on and focus on the stuff that I think really matters to people," he told reporters.
The margin was tighter than the one Johnson's predecessor Theresa May received when a no-confidence vote was held on her leadership in 2018, when 37 per cent of MPs voted against her. She resigned six months later.
Johnson was then elected prime minister in a landslide vote that was the party's biggest election win in decades.
Monday's vote comes after it was discovered he and his staff held several parties in 2020 and 2021 against the COVID-19 restrictions in place.
‘I take full responsibility’: British PM Boris Johnson answers to Partygate after new independent report
At least 54 Tory legislators had called a no-confidence vote, according to the party, clearing the 15-per cent threshold needed to trigger it.
Johnson's Downing Street office said that the prime minister welcomed the vote.
"Tonight is a chance to end months of speculation and allow the government to draw a line and move on, delivering on the people’s priorities,” it said.
Boris Johnson narrowly won a no-confidence vote Monday and will remain as the U.K.'s prime minister, despite more than 40 per cent of his party's MPs voting against him.
Johnson received support from 211 Conservative MPs — just 30 more ballots than the 180 needed to survive the vote. Every Tory MP cast a ballot. Forty-one per cent of the caucus, or 148 MPs, voted against the prime minister.
He still called the result "decisive" and claimed it proved more of his party's MPs support him now than they did when he was elected in 2019. He added he is not interested in holding a snap election.
"I think it's a convincing result, a decisive result and what it means is that as a government we can move on and focus on the stuff that I think really matters to people," he told reporters.
The margin was tighter than the one Johnson's predecessor Theresa May received when a no-confidence vote was held on her leadership in 2018, when 37 per cent of MPs voted against her. She resigned six months later.
Johnson was then elected prime minister in a landslide vote that was the party's biggest election win in decades.
Monday's vote comes after it was discovered he and his staff held several parties in 2020 and 2021 against the COVID-19 restrictions in place.
‘I take full responsibility’: British PM Boris Johnson answers to Partygate after new independent report
At least 54 Tory legislators had called a no-confidence vote, according to the party, clearing the 15-per cent threshold needed to trigger it.
Johnson's Downing Street office said that the prime minister welcomed the vote.
"Tonight is a chance to end months of speculation and allow the government to draw a line and move on, delivering on the people’s priorities,” it said.
Yet the result pointed to a deep divide within the party that critics said left Johnson politically wounded at a critical moment, as the country works to rebuild the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic amid inflation and impacts from Russia's war in Ukraine.
"At a time of huge challenge, it saddles the U.K. with an utterly lame duck PM," said Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, a vocal critic of the U.K. government who has pushed for Scotland's independence from the U.K.
The Opposition Leader, Keir Starmer of the left-of-centre Labour Party, took advantage of the results to promote his "united" party to voters.
The next national election is not expected until 2024, but a pair of by-elections is scheduled for the end of this month.
Conservatives may lose those special elections, which were called when incumbent Tory lawmakers were forced out by sex scandals. Polls give the Labour Party a lead nationally.
Johnson has been able to dodge scandals and gaffes as prime minister and in previous jobs, including mayor of London, which range from offensive comments about Muslim women to shutting down Parliament during heated Brexit negotiations.
But concerns came to a head after an investigator's report late last month that slammed a culture of rule-breaking inside the prime minister's office in a scandal known as ``partygate.''
Civil service investigator Sue Gray described alcohol-fueled bashes held by Downing Street staff members in 2020 and 2021, when pandemic restrictions prevented U.K. residents from socializing or even visiting dying relatives.
Gray said the ``senior leadership team'' must bear responsibility for ``failures of leadership and judgment.''
Johnson was also fined 50 pounds ($78) by police for attending one party, making him the first prime minister sanctioned for breaking the law while in office.
The prime minister said he was "humbled" and took "full responsibility," but insisted he would not resign.
—With files from Reuters and the Associated Press
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