Summary

  • Boris Johnson remains as Conservative leader after winning a vote of his own MPs

  • The MPs voted by 211 to 148 to keep him as party leader and prime minister

  • At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, he says he wants to "draw a line" under his problems

  • Supporters - and some opponents - of the PM also say it's time to move on

  • Foreign Secretary Liz Truss emphatically backs the PM and dismisses suggestions of a leadership bid

  • "I think [the PM] won the vote comprehensively," says Johnson critic Andrea Leadsom

  • But former leader Lord Hague says the damage done to Johnson is severe

  • Meanwhile, Ukraine's President Zelensky says he is "very happy" that Johnson remains PM

  1. Move on, says PM's critic Leadsompublished at 09:26 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    Andrea Leadsom

    Former cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom has said that her party will "move on" following yesterday's confidence vote in Boris Johnson.

    As she left home this morning, Leadsom - an open critic of the prime minister who had revealed she had submitted a letter of no confidence - said: "I think he's won the vote comprehensively and we're just getting on with business."

    She added: "The party gave its views yesterday. Today is another day, we move on. The PM will want to focus on the priorities of this country."

  2. Johnson to meet cabinet ministers this morningpublished at 09:17 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    As Boris Johnson tries to move on from last night's confidence vote, he will meet his cabinet this morning.

    As a reminder, the cabinet has backed Johnson - with Health Secretary Sajid Javid saying he secured "a fresh mandate" and Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi saying he won "handsomely".

    Despite that loyalty, there have been reports that a reshuffle - even a small one - might be on the cards in the coming weeks.

  3. How did this compare to previous confidence votes?published at 09:06 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    Margaret Thatcher after resigningImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Margaret Thatcher resigned after almost 41% of MPs backed a challenger for the leadership

    Last night's confidence vote on Boris Johnson's future resulted in 211 Tory MPs backing him, while 148 voted against - meaning 41% of his MPs wanted him to go.

    Johnson said it was a "decisive". But how does it compare to previous confidence votes in Tory leaders?

    • In 2018, Theresa May survived a confidence vote prompted by her Brexit policy. She had 37% of her MPs voting against her, and resigned six months later
    • In 2003, Iain Duncan Smith narrowly lost a confidence vote with 55% of Tory MPs voting against him, leading to his resignation
    • John Major triggered a leadership contest in 1995 by resigning as Tory leader while still PM, amid disputes over European policy. He won, with 27% of MPs voting for challenger John Redwood, but Major went on to lose the 1997 election
    • In 1990, Margaret Thatcher faced her second leadership challenge in 12 months. She won but 40.9% of her MPs backed the challenger, Michael Heseltine. Her cabinet persuaded her to resign
  4. The morning after the night before: PM pictured in Downing Streetpublished at 08:59 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    Boris Johnson leaves the back entrance of Downing Street the morning after winning a no-confidence voteImage source, Reuters

    Boris Johnson has been photographed leaving Downing Street, via the back entrance, the morning after 41% of his party voted to oust him.

    The prime minister was accompanied by his dog and wore casual clothes.

    He is due to meet his cabinet later today in a bid to "refresh" and move on from Partygate.

    Boris Johnson leaves the back entrance of Downing Street the morning after winning a no-confidence voteImage source, Reuters
  5. Analysis

    The rebels are not done yetpublished at 08:46 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    Chris Mason
    Political editor

    The press release from No10 pinged in at 06:02 this morning.

    It might as well have been headlined: "Let's talk about something, anything, else."

    Boris Johnson will try to use the clout of incumbency to do stuff and move on.

    Expect a big speech from Johnson on Thursday, focusing on the economy and housing.

    But first, he meets his cabinet this morning, his praetorian guard yesterday, who fanned out to every patch of grass in Westminster to try to prop him up.

    A cabinet minister texts me this morning: "Interesting days and weeks ahead." They added that too many backbenchers "don't currently feel part of things" and acknowledged there is "work to do".

    And a rebel rings me back just after 7am.

    I was pointed to an article in the Daily Telegraph from 2019, external, described as the "best exposition" of the case for changing the leadership rules, allowing another confidence vote within months, rather than having to wait a year.

    They're not done yet.

  6. Raab rejects calls for cabinet intervention on PMpublished at 08:43 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    Now here's some more from Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab's morning media round.

    Asked about Tobias Ellwood's comment that cabinet ministers could provide "the direction of travel" in getting Boris Johnson to "step back", Raab says Tory MPs must instead back the government's "positive agenda".

    Pressed on whether he would at any point tell Boris Johnson it was time to go, Raab tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I will always put first and foremost the good of country and I've resigned from cabinet previously when I thought that was at stake.

    "I don't think that is the issue now, I believe passionately and unflinchingly that what we need to do is get back on the front foot, and the way you do that is the positive agenda and support for the prime minister."

  7. 'The party's over' or 'I'll bash on'? What the papers saypublished at 08:21 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    No prizes for guessing what the UK's newspapers focus on this morning. The headlines call Boris Johnson everything from "humiliated" (Guardian) to "wounded" (Times, Financial Times, the i) to "unbowed" (Daily Express).

    Read the full round up here.

    The Mirror carries a picture of Mr Johnson bent forward with his head on one hand and quotes Sir Roger Gale, a fellow Tory and one of the longest-serving MPs in Parliament, saying: "I'd be surprised if he's still in downing Street by the end of autumn"Image source, .
    And the Mail says the MPs who voted against the prime minister have "hit the self-destruct button by opening [the] door to smirking Starmer's coalition of chaos". The paper quotes one MP loyal to Mr Johnson as describing Monday as "the first day of the civil war"Image source, .
  8. PM has 'redoubled his focus' after 'clear win' - Raabpublished at 08:01 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    Deputy PM Dominic RaabImage source, EPA

    Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab says Boris Johnson has not been put off by last night's confidence vote - and instead has "redoubled in his commitment and focus" on the government's agenda.

    He tells BBC Breakfast the prime minister won the ballot "very clearly" - and that while it is "important to listen to dissenting voices", the result should be respected.

    He says the Conservatives must now "galvanise together" and talk to voters about the issues that matter to them.

    Raab says Johnson has the energy and commitment to enact the government's "packed agenda" - from helping families with the cost of living to "levelling up", fighting crime, and continuing to support Ukraine.

  9. Rayner: People who lost relatives to Covid won't move onpublished at 07:40 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner and leader Sir Keir Starmer walk down a street in RamsbottomImage source, Getty Images

    Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner says Boris Johnson's calls for the country to "move on" from Partygate won't sit well with people who lost loved ones during the pandemic.

    "They followed the rules and they feel the hypocrisy of a prime minister who set the rules and broke them ... multiple times," she tells BBC Breakfast.

    "No 10 received more [Covid] fixed penalty notices than any other house in the country... it's shambolic."

    Johnson reacted to last night's confidence vote by saying the "decisive" result meant that "as a government we can move on".

    Asked about her potential hypocrisy, considering she and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer are under investigation for the so-called Beergate incident, Rayner said she and her boss had "been very clear".

    "We've said that if we're found to have broken the rules, we will resign," she said. "We think that's integral to the British people."

  10. Top Tory rebel accepts result - but 'with huge caveats'published at 07:36 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    Tobias EllwoodImage source, Getty Images

    Tory rebel and chairman of the defence select committee Tobias Ellwood says despite voting against the PM in the confidence vote, he accepts the result - albeit "with huge caveats".

    He tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme the outcome was "far from the conclusive result that we wanted - it's not a defeat but it's not a win", but urges colleagues to accept it.

    Ellwood - who has been calling for Boris Johnson to resign since February - describes the 41% of Tory MPs who voted against the PM as a "significant chunk" of the party, who had "concerns" about the direction of the party and who must now be "included in shaping the party's future".

    Citing the Times article by Lord Hague, Ellwood says the "honourable way forward" would be for the PM to "step back" and accept the task of uniting the party to win the next general election is "too big".

    He says for this to happen, cabinet ministers would need to "provide that direction of travel".

    But he adds that "we don't have that kind of cabinet, we don't have that sort of prime minister, we have to deal with the reality that those days of an honourable resignation are not there".

  11. Analysis

    When four in ten of your MPs want you out, you have a problempublished at 07:30 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    Chris Mason
    Political editor

    The first rule of politics: learn how to count. Mathematically, Boris Johnson was the winner in Monday's confidence vote.

    The second rule of politics: numbers often only tell so much of the story. You can claim victory and be robbed of authority in the same moment.

    History tells us some things: Sir John Major in 1995 and Theresa May in 2018 both won confidence votes with a bigger proportion of their MPs supporting them.

    Sir John was crushed in a general election two years later. Mrs May was out of power six months later.

    There is a difference now: Boris Johnson can point to his own thumping majority from the last election for a start.

    But the simple truth is when more than four in ten of your own MPs think the country would be better off without you, you have a problem.

    Read more from Chris here

  12. Watch: Johnson reacts to vote winpublished at 07:11 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    Media caption,

    Boris Johnson welcomes 'convincing' confidence vote

  13. A fresh mandate - or time to go?published at 07:07 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    Boris Johnson may have won a confidence vote last night, but there are different opinions about what the result means for his tenure.

    Here are some of the most significant - and polarised - reactions.

    Health Secretary Sajid Javid said his boss had "secured a fresh mandate" from the Conservative Party following his 63-majority win.

    "Now we need to unite and focus on the country's challenges," he tweeted.

    Another cabinet minister, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said the PM won "handsomely". "I hope we can draw a line under this issue," he said.

    Boris JohnsonImage source, PA Media

    On the opposite side, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the vote - which Johnson won with a smaller majority than Theresa May when she faced a confidence vote - showed "divided Tories [were] propping up Boris Johnson with no plan to tackle the issues".

    Tory rebels were equally unhappy. Andrew Brigden, the MP for North West Leicestershire, tweeted the article by Lord Hague in which the former Tory leader called for Johnson to resign.

    "The prime minister should now leave with honour and residual affection for what he has achieved," Bridgen wrote.

    Meanwhile, Conservative Julian Sturdy, the MP for York Outer, said the scale of the vote against Johnson was "clear evidence that he no longer enjoys the full-hearted confidence of the parliamentary party and should consider his position".

  14. Time for Johnson to leave - Haguepublished at 06:55 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    Lord William HagueImage source, PA Media

    The former Conservative leader Lord Hague has called on Boris Johnson to quit as PM, saying he has experienced a "greater level of rejection" than any of his predecessors.

    Writing in the Times, external, the peer says that while Johnson survived the vote, "the damage done to his premiership is severe".

    "Words have been said that cannot be retracted, reports published that cannot be erased, and votes have been cast that show a greater level of rejection than any Tory leader has ever endured and survived," he writes.

    "Deep inside, he should recognise that, and turn his mind to getting out in a way that spares party and country such agonies and uncertainties."

    As well as being Conservative leader for four years, Lord Hague is a former foreign secretary and leader of the House of Commons.

    He noted he did not face a confidence vote while party leader from 1997 to 2001, saying he "would have regarded my position as completely untenable if more than a third of my MPs had ever voted against me".

    "The nature of this particular revolt makes it qualitatively as well as quantitatively devastating," he writes.

  15. How the prime minister reactedpublished at 06:47 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    Johnson in carImage source, PA Media

    Some quotes after winning the vote of confidence:

    • "I think this is a very good result for politics and for the country. In this sense 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"
    • "I understand that what we need to do now is come together as a government, as a party, and that is exactly what we can now do"
    • "We can focus on what we're doing to help people with the cost of living, with what we're doing to clear... what we're doing to make streets and communities safer by putting more police out and it gives us the opportunity to continue to unite, to level up, to strengthen our economy"
    • "I certainly think it is [a good result] because, don't forget, that when I first stood to be leader of the Conservative Party in 2019, I didn't get anything like that much support from my colleagues in Parliament"
  16. Welcome backpublished at 06:41 British Summer Time 7 June 2022

    Good morning and welcome to our coverage of the reaction to Boris Johnson surviving last night's confidence vote.

    • In all, 211 Tory MPs voted that they had confidence in the prime minister - 59% - while 148 voted against him
    • It means Johnson is now immune from a Conservative leadership challenge for a year
    • Describing it as a "decisive" and "convincing" victory, Johnson said the result was "an opportunity to put behind us all the stuff that the media goes on about"
    • Cabinet ministers backed Johnson, with Health Secretary Sajid Javid saying he had secured "a fresh mandate" and Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi saying he won "handsomely"
    • But critics claimed the size of the rebellion showed his leadership was weakened, with some calling on him to resign
    • "While Johnson has survived the night, the damage done to his premiership is severe," Lord Hague wrote in the Times, external
    • Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the public were "fed up with a prime minister who promises big but never delivers"
    • While Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said while the PM had clung on to power, "his reputation is in tatters and his authority is now totally shot"

  17. Thanks for joining uspublished at 22:55 British Summer Time 6 June 2022

    Today's live page was edited by Owen Amos, Jasmine Taylor-Coleman, Rob Corp, Claudia Allen and Chris Giles.

    The writers were Emily McGarvey, Richard Morris, Joseph Lee, Sam Hancock, Justin Parkinson, Craig Hutchison, Mary O’Connor.

  18. We're pausing our live coverage soonpublished at 22:50 British Summer Time 6 June 2022

    Before we do let's remind you of tonight's developments.

    • Boris Johnson insisted he's secured a "decisive" victory following a confidence vote by Conservative MPs
    • They voted by 211 to 148 in support of the prime minister but the scale of the revolt against his leadership leaves him wounded
    • Despite that Johnson told reporters it's "an extremely good, positive, conclusive, decisive result which enables us to move on" to talk "exclusively" about things that matter to the British people
    • Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Conservatives had to decide whether or not to "show some backbone or to back Boris Johnson," and he argued that the public were "fed up with a prime minister who promises big but never delivers"
    • Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey said the result meant Conservative MPs are now "fully responsible for the prime minister's behaviour - they have narrowly voted to keep a lawbreaker and liar in No 10"
    • The SNP has said: "Tory MPs should have drawn a line under Boris Johnson's disastrous time as prime minister but instead they've bottled it", adding "the UK is now stuck in limbo with a lame duck prime minister who has lost the confidence of the public - and more than 40% of his own MPs"

  19. Analysis

    Johnson may have won battle but not warpublished at 22:46 British Summer Time 6 June 2022

    Iain Watson
    Political correspondent

    If there is a brace of by-election defeats later this month, Boris Johnson's critics may well say something along the lines of, "We told you so".

    Some have told me they hope some ministers will now try to persuade the PM to go.

    And the pressure will mount again when a cross-party committee soon begins to probe whether he deliberately mislead Parliament over Partygate.

    The PM will try to drown out that noise with a range of policy announcements – and possibly promotions for some who stayed loyal in a pre-summer reshuffle.

    But the breadth of opposition to the PM – some of those who backed Brexit, some who backed Remain, some of the 2019 intake, some long-standing MPs - means that policies designed to appeal to one wing of his party might alienate others.

    So victory tonight for Boris Johnson, but he may have won a battle and not the war inside his own party.

  20. The gig is up for the prime minister, says Tory MPpublished at 22:40 British Summer Time 6 June 2022

    Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen

    Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen says the PM had a Pyrrhic victory tonight, adding that Johnson received "far worse results than Theresa May had a couple years ago, and the vote that brought down Thatcher".

    He adds that both leaders went on to resign following the outcome of their votes - and hopes that given the mood of the public and the vote tonight, that the "cabinet would tell the prime minister that the gig's up".

    He told the BBC he predicts there will be a new leader of Conservatives by this year's party conference, which is due to be held in October.

    According to Bridgen, Boris Johnson told MPs ahead of the confidence vote: "Vote for me tonight and end all this uncertainty".

    However, he says "that's not the case," adding that uncertainty remains as the Commons committee looking into whether the PM deliberately misled parliament over Partygate won't report its findings until October.

    Bridgen says that while the PM is safe for another year under current rules, until another confidence vote can be held, he adds that "rules can be changed in extreme cases".