Evening summary
Here’s a roundup of the key developments from this evening:
- Boris Johnson was clinging to his premiership on Monday night after 148 of his MPs voted to oust him from Downing Street in a ballot that exposed potentially fatal rifts within his party. The prime minister won the support of 211 MPs but 41% of his party voted to get rid of him. It was the worst verdict on a sitting prime minister by their own party in recent times.
- In a clip for broadcasters Boris Johnson has described the result as “good news” because, he claimed, it would allow the government to put Partygate behind it and to focus on “what we as a government are doing to help people”. He insisted it was an “extremely good” result despite a worse performance than Theresa May in her confidence vote.
- Keir Starmer said it was “grotesque” that Tory MPs voted to support someone with no sense of duty. He said: “The Conservative party now believes that breaking the law is no impediment to making the law. The Conservative party now believes that the British public have no right to expect honest politicians.”
- Starting an instant spin operation outside the room where the result was announced, the Foreign Office minister James Cleverly called it “a comfortable win” and said rebels should now give up on their efforts. Meanwhile, Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, told Sky News that Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, would be “punching the air” tonight because his ally, Boris Johnson, will remain as PM.
- Tory rebels have vowed to keep trying to force Boris Johnson from office, as the prime minister’s allies admitted he was reaching “the beginning of the end” after a devastating result in Monday night’s confidence vote. They will hold his feet to the fire as the next Partygate inquiry – into whether the prime minister misled parliament by denying any Covid rules were broken in Downing Street – gets under way in the coming weeks.
My colleague Jessica Elgot has written about how the day of infighting played out.
We are closing this liveblog shortly. Thanks so much for joining us.
Our liveblog on the Russia-Ukraine war is still live and you can follow it here:
Updated
Boris Johnson’s allies had always said about the vote of no confidence that victory by just one vote was still a win, and he would remain in Downing Street and get on with delivering “the people’s priorities”.
They will no doubt be cracking opening the bubbly on Monday evening. But the truth is that with 148 votes against him, the task of governing is likely to become more, not less difficult in the weeks and months ahead.
As rebel MPs determined to oust him are likely to point out at the earliest opportunity, those 148 rebels dramatically outnumber Johnson’s working majority of 75.
While they are not a coherent group of zealots, of the kind that ultimately saw off Theresa May over Brexit policy, his detractors do share a set of concerns they may now feel emboldened to pursue more vocally – including by withholding their support in the voting lobbies.
Some are irked by the fact the government is on a trajectory towards the highest tax burden since Clement Attlee was in power.
Others have spoken out in recent months about the illiberal nature of Johnson’s government, which has become more marked in recent months as he tried to appease the right wing of his party after his position appeared under threat in January.
The former minister Jesse Norman – biographer of the Conservative intellectual hero Edmund Burke – pointed in his blistering letter on Monday to the plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, and the ban on noisy protests.
Yet more MPs are frustrated at the sense of drift and indecision in the face of a mounting economic crisis – or simply fear for their seats, with a party leader the public appear to be firmly convinced is a proven liar.
Johnson did little to win over the latter group at Monday’s 1922 Committee meeting, where he appeared unrepentant about Partygate, even telling MPs he would attend boozy lockdown leaving bashes again.
Afterwards, one ally delivered an extraordinarily tone deaf briefing to waiting journalists, asking them: “Is there anyone here who hasn’t got pissed in their lives? Is there anyone here who doesn’t like a glass of wine to decompress?”
It is just possible that the bullish Johnson is not feeling as bloody-minded as the briefing suggests, and after the humiliation of being booed outside St Paul’s on Friday, his fragile ego could finally get the better of him and prompt him to resign.
But most colleagues believe he is likely to remain in Downing Street, hoping to bulldoze his way through to the next general election.
Read the full story here:
