Boris Johnson is keen to move on from the confidence vote that, while showing a victory on paper for him, reveals an extremely divided Conservative Party.
Choppy waters lie ahead for the prime minister and his government, whose ambitious legislative agenda is now threatened by Tory MPs planning to rebel through vote strikes or other means.
At the time of writing, the government has a 75-seat working majority, putting it in a stronger position than Theresa May’s government following her 2019 confidence vote. Still, the divisions within the party are clear – 148 MPs voted against Johnson. Their numbers are four times the number needed to wipe out the government’s majority on a range of issues. While some of those rebels will go back to being loyal, others will not.
