British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tried to fix his splintered authority on Tuesday after surviving a censure vote that exposed deep divisions in his Conservative Party and raised serious doubts about how long he could remain in office.
According to party rules, Johnson is now free from another challenge for a year. But former Conservative prime ministers who have faced censorship votes have been terminally damaged, and a growing number of Conservative lawmakers fear that the famous Johnson who likes people could now be a responsibility to voters.
However, Johnson promised to “keep up the work” and focus on “what matters to the British people”, defined by him as the economy, health and crime, after Conservative lawmakers voted 211 to 148 to support him as a leader.
“We are now able to draw a line under the problems that our opponents want to talk about,” and “push the country forward,” Johnson told colleagues in the cabinet.
From left to right, British House of Commons leader Mark Spencer, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, Home Secretary Michael Gove, Home Secretary Priti Patel, Lancaster Duchy Chancellor Stephen Barclay and Secretary of Justice and Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab attend a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. (Leon Neal / AFP / Getty Images)
But the scale of the rebellion raised serious questions about its ability to govern at a time of growing economic and social tension. Former Conservative leader William Hague has called on Johnson to step down, saying “the damage done to his position as prime minister is serious.”
“Words that cannot be retracted have been said, reports that cannot be erased have been published, and votes have been cast showing a higher level of rejection than any Conservative leader has endured and survived,” he wrote. Hague in a Times of London article whose words. they were splashed by the British media.
“It’s not over,” said Philip Dunne, a Conservative lawmaker who voted against Johnson in Monday’s censure vote.
The censure vote was triggered because at least 54 Conservative lawmakers, 15 percent of the party’s parliamentary caucus, called for a challenge to Johnson.
Johnson needed the support of 180 of the 359 Conservative lawmakers to stay in power. He got more than that, but while he described the victory as “convincing,” the rebellion was greater than some of his supporters had predicted.
The margin was narrower than that obtained by her predecessor, Theresa May, in a 2018 censure vote. She was forced to resign six months later.
“It’s going to be a big blow. And I think they’re going to worry because this story isn’t over yet,” said Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University in London. “The reality is that these contests have a habit of exposing the weakness that is the authority of a prime minister.”
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Deep divisions
The rebellion was also a sign of deep conservative divisions, less than three years after Johnson led the party to its biggest election victory in decades. Most British newspapers doubted that this was bad news for a leader who has always shown an unusual ability to avoid scandals.
The Daily Telegraph, which supports the Conservatives, announced: “The empty victory is destroying the Conservatives.” The left-wing Daily Mirror said bluntly, “The party is over, Boris.”
But some staunch supporters tried to pass Tuesday’s vote. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said the party should “draw a line in the sand after this vote”.
“He won clearly and decisively,” he said.
Offending parties
The vote was followed by months of discontent over the ethics and trial of the Prime Minister which focused on revelations of criminal parties in the Prime Minister’s Office when Britain was blocked during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a report last month on the partygate scandal, civil service researcher Sue Gray described alcohol-related crashes by Downing Street staff members in 2020 and 2021, when pandemic restrictions prevented that UK residents socialize or even visit dying relatives. Gray said Johnson and senior officials must take responsibility for the “leadership and trial failures” that created a culture of breaking the government.
Johnson was also fined £ 50 (about C $ 79) by police for attending a party, making him the prime minister sanctioned for breaking the law while in office.
The prime minister said he was “humiliated” and took “full responsibility”, but defended his attendance at parties as necessary for staff morale and called some of the partygate’s criticism unfair. “.
Johnson reacts while speaking at a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street on June 7, 2022. (Leon Neal / AFP / Getty Images)
Ethical probe
Johnson is still facing a parliamentary ethical inquiry into “partygate”, and his government is also under intense pressure to ease the pain of soaring energy and food bills, while managing the consequences of leaving the UK. of the European Union.
Polls give the Labor Party an advantage over the center-left opposition nationwide, and Johnson will face further pressure if the Conservatives lose special elections later this month for two parliamentary districts, convened when Conservative lawmakers in functions they were forced by sex scandals.
Bale said Johnson would likely fight tax cuts and other policies designed to attract his party’s right-wing base.
“The problem with this is that he is proposing, if you will, political solutions to a personality problem,” he said. “From opinion polls it appears that the public has turned against Boris Johnson in particular, and that is partly what the Conservative Party is dragging.”