How does tonight's support for Johnson compare to 2019 leadership vote?published at 22:26 British Summer Time 6 June 2022

22:26 BST 6 June 2022

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Boris Johnson said he got more support tonight from his MPs than he received in the Conservatives' leadership election of 2019.

Well, up to a point...

He got the backing tonight of 59% of his MPs whereas in the run-off with Jeremy Hunt he got 66% of the vote. That, however, was a ballot of the members, not the MPs.

But a number of his supporters are tonight quoting a figure of 51% support from MPs in 2019.

This refers to the percentage he gained when he was facing TWO other opponents – Hunt and Michael Gove.

So there was a three-way split in that vote, whereas tonight it was a binary choice.

And some rebels believe that by talking up tonight’s result, support may further erode not solidify.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries says it's "time to get back to the job of governing" following Boris Johnson's victory in the confidence vote.

"The person Starmer doesn't want to face at an election is Boris Johnson who secured the biggest Conservative majority since 1987 and the highest share of the vote (43.6 per cent) of any party since 1979, with 14 million votes," the Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire tweeted.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said "now's the time to get on with the job," after Johnson won the vote.

Truss tweeted that she was "pleased that colleagues have backed the prime minister. I support him 100%."

Meanwhile Housing Secretary Michael Gove said it's time to "get on with delivery and focus on the people's priorities" now that the prime minister has "secured" the trust of his MPs.

"Now we must carry out what we were elected to deliver - levelling up, cutting crime, securing the benefits of Brexit and improving public services," he tweeted.

Boris Johnson said he thinks he received a "convincing and decisive" result tonight, adding that it means the government "can move on and focus on the stuff that really matters to people".

He said the government and his party can now come together to "do our job" and "put behind us all the stuff the media have wanted to focus on for a very long time".

The PM won a confidence vote with 211 Tory MPs backing him and 148 voting against him.

The SNP's Westminster Leader Ian Blackford says "I'm stunned" and it's a "big thing" for this many Conservatives to vote against their own prime minister.

He says the PM now has the support of less than a third of the House of Commons.

"For Boris, this should be over," he says.

"This is a man who doesn't have the support of this Parliament... he needs to recognise that with his behaviour, he's demeaned the office of prime minister," he states, adding that "there's a privileges investigation to come".

He says he doesn't think Boris Johnson will fight another general election.

Johnson fatally wounded says Labour shadow ministerpublished at 21:58 British Summer Time 6 June 2022

21:58 BST 6 June 2022

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Labour are clearly delighted with the outcome of Boris Johnson surviving the confidence vote, but amid heaps of internal dissent.

The shadow foreign secretary David Lammy has suggested Johnson is "fatally wounded".

Sir Keir Starmer has suggested that as Conservative MPs have "hitched themselves" to Boris Johnson, voters should now decide the PM’s fate, pledging to "get rid of this tired, out-of-touch government".

But of course Durham police have yet to conclude their investigation in to the "beergate" event attended by Sir Keir.

So while he believes he will be cleared, currently there is uncertainty over the future of both party leaders.

More now from the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who says "this evening the Conservative Party had a decision to make, to show some backbone, or to back Boris Johnson".

He says the public are "fed up with a prime minister who promises big but never delivers".

The PM is "utterly unfit for the great office that he holds," Starmer says, and Tory MPs have "ignored the British public".

Conservatives believe "the British government have no right to expect honest politicians," he adds.

Boris Johnson says he is "pleased" because now the party can talk "exclusively" about things that matter to the British people, rather than internal party struggles.

He denies that this result being worse than Theresa May's will make his leadership more difficult.

Johnson is repeatedly asked whether he will rule out a snap election.

"I'm certainly not interested in snap elections," he says. "What I'm interested in is delivering for this country."

Asked what he thought about the fact 148 Conservative MPs voted against him, Boris Johnson says he thought it was a "very good result" overall.

"Don't forget when I first stood to be leader of the Tory party I didn't get anything like that much support from my colleagues in parliament, we're building on that," Johnson says.

"What we have now is an opportunity to put behind us all the stuff people in the media like going on about.

"What we're going to do now is take the opportunity to unite and deliver."

Boris Johnson, speaking for the first time since the vote, says the result is "decisive", adding: "What it means is as a government we can move on and focus on the stuff that I think really matters to people.

"I'm grateful to colleagues and the support they've given me.

"What we need to do now is come together as a government and a party."

He says this is a moment and an opportunity to "put behind us" the ongoing arguments within the Conservative party from recent months over his leadership.

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 - allowing this damaging circus to continue and leaving the Westminster government in crisis.

"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 - and is left limping around on borrowed time while the Tory party descends into bitter division."

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has tweeted to say:

"That result is surely the worst of all worlds for the Tories... for Scotland, it just underlines the democratic deficit - only 2 of (Scotland's) 59 MPs have confidence in the PM."

Image source, UK PARLIAMENT/JESSICA TAYLOR

In response to the PM's victory, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey says that "Conservative MPs are now fully responsible for the prime minister's behaviour - they have narrowly voted to keep a lawbreaker and liar in Number 10.

"Whilst Boris Johnson has clung on today - make no mistake, his reputation is in tatters and his authority is now totally shot," Davey said.

"It's clear that the prime minister and the Conservative party are laughing at the British public.

"Every Conservative MP who cares about integrity and decency must do the right thing, resign the whip and sit as an independent. For the sake of our country, this failing prime minister cannot be propped up any longer.

"Johnson is teetering on the brink. He is too cowardly to resign - the people of Tiverton and Honiton will speak for Britain in giving their verdict on Boris Johnson in two weeks' time."

Sir Roger Gale, who voted to remove the PM, says the result is very bad indeed for Boris Johnson.

He hadn't expected more than a third of the parliamentary party to express no confidence in the prime minister, he says.

The veteran MP says he would be very surprised if the PM was still in post by the autumn.

Having survived today's vote, Boris Johnson can now continue as Conservative Party leader and therefore prime minister.

Under current rules, Tory MPs will not be allowed to hold another confidence vote for a year.

However, there has been speculation that some could try to change the rules, to hold another vote sooner. When asked about it, Sir Graham Brady - who oversees the process - said "technically, it's possible".

Despite having won the vote, Johnson still faces challenges. On 23 June, by-elections to pick new MPs in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton will be held.

Both seats were previously held by the Conservatives and if they were to be lost to opposition parties, Johnson could find himself under renewed pressure.

Read more on this story here.

Johnson has lower level of backing than Maypublished at 21:19 British Summer Time 6 June 2022

21:19 BST 6 June 2022

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Boris Johnsons supporters have said that victory by a margin of one would be enough for him to carry on. His critics took that with not a pinch but a whole mine of salt.

He has won by 211 to 148.

But the scale of the opposition was towards the higher end of his opponents' expectations.

He had proportionately a lower level of backing than Theresa May when she faced a confidence vote in 2018.

Though she survived it, she was gone six months later.

And in what was a secret ballot, it seems likely some ministers or ministerial aides - the so-called payroll vote – didn’t back the PM.

They make up almost half the parliamentary party.

Boris Johnson will no doubt repeat his call for unity and say its time to get on with the job in hand.

There can't be another formal challenge to him for a year.

But his critics are likely to be emboldened and not silenced.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi, who said he would back Johnson before the vote, says the PM won 'handsomely".

"I hope we can draw a line under this issue," he adds.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has responded to tonight's result, saying a "divided" Conservative party is "propping up" Boris Johnson after the prime minister survived the confidence vote.

"The choice is clearer than ever before: Divided Tories propping up Boris Johnson with no plan to tackle the issues you are facing," Starmer tweeted.

"Or a united Labour Party with a plan to fix the cost-of-living crisis and restore trust in politics.

"Labour will get Britain back on track."

This vote means the issue won't go awaypublished at 21:08 British Summer Time 6 June 2022

21:08 BST 6 June 2022

Chris Mason
Political editor

An arithmetic win for Boris Johnson - but boy, look at those numbers.

We know that 148 Conservative MPs think the country would be better off shot of him.

That's 148 Conservative MPs, not floating voters.

That is a far higher proportion of his MPs attempting to eject him than wanted shot of Theresa May when she faced a confidence vote.

And she was gone within six months.

His supporters say the situation is very different now - but this vote means this issue won't go away.

The result is at the upper end of the expectations of the rebels, who never expected to win.

They will see this as losing the battle, but the war to replace him goes on.

Image source, EPA

Boris Johnson has received 58.8% of support from the Conservative Party, with 41.2% voting against his leadership.

Every single Conservative MP voted.

This result is lower than the 63% received by Theresa May during her leadership challenge in 2018.