Boris Johnson wins confidence vote with 59% of MPs backing him

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has won the backing of a majority of his MPs in a confidence vote held last night.

The vote had been held because many Conservative MPs, members of his own party, wrote a letter saying they didn't have confidence in him as leader.

He won 59% of the vote, meaning he won't face another Conservative leadership challenge for a year.

The final result showed that 211 MPs voted they had confidence in the PM's leadership while 148 voted against him.

Although this was a win for Mr Johnson, it is quite unusual to see so many people voting against the party leader.

Mr Johnson said it was a "very good", "convincing" result and "an opportunity to put behind us all the stuff that the media goes on about".

Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, announced the result

Downing Street said the result would allow the government to "focus relentlessly on the issues that concern our voters".

But the large number of people who voted against him shows that his control over his own party has weakened, with some calling on him to resign.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer - who is head of the other largest party - said a "divided" Conservative Party was "propping up" Mr Johnson after he survived the confidence vote.

Why was this vote held?

The prime minister did not receive a fine for attending this leaving do on 13 November 2020

Mr Johnson, who became prime minister in 2019, was told he would face a vote on his leadership on Sunday during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

This came after weeks of people in the Conservative party discussing whether he should stay in his jobs as prime minister and leader of the party.

Many within the party have been unhappy with the prime minister after report into lockdown parties in and near Downing Street during the Covid 19 pandemic was published last month.

The report said that several lockdown rules had been broken in Number 10, with Mr Johnson fined by the police for attending a birthday party in June 2020.

This made Mr Johnson the UK's first serving prime minister to have to pay a fine for breaking the law.

What does this mean for the prime minister?

Boris Johnson's leadership has come under increasing pressure within his own party in recent weeks

Although the result means Mr Johnson has won and on paper can now stay in his role without challenge for another year, this might not be how things work it in reality.

The vote shows that many within his own party no longer support him, which could make it very difficult for his to do his job.

This is because he will need their support in parliament if he is going to be able to pass any new laws and make new policies in the future.

The previous prime minister Theresa May won a party confidence vote in 2018 getting 63% of her party's support - more than Mr Johnson received.

But she still ended up quitting the job six months later because she couldn't get her Brexit bill passed due to the lack of support she had in the House of Commons.