The British Prime Minister remains in office for the time being.
(Photo: AP)
London Boris Johnson remains Prime Minister in Great Britain for the time being. The politically ailing head of government won a short-term vote of no confidence from his own parliamentary group on Monday evening by 211 to 148 votes. 180 votes from the 359 Conservative MPs would have been enough for Johnson to win. Most of the English bookmakers had bet odds of one to four on Johnson winning.
The result, however, was much closer than the Prime Minister’s supporters had hoped and shows the deep rift running through the British Conservatives. More than 40 percent of the faction voted against their own prime minister. According to the current statutes of the Conservative Party, no new motion of no confidence may be made against Johnson in the next twelve months. However, Johnson cannot be sure. The Tories have changed their rules before to get rid of politically undesirable leaders.
Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May won her own vote of confidence in December 2018 by 200 votes to 117, a majority of about 63 percent. Johnson would have needed 226 votes to get to May’s level.
Today’s Brexit Minister and Johnson confidante Jacob Rees-Mogg described May’s result as “terrible” for a Prime Minister and suggested that she resign. This happened seven months later under massive pressure from the party. It’s unclear how long Johnson can hold out.
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“I think this is probably the beginning of the end,” John Penrose prophesied ahead of the confidence vote. The prime minister’s anti-corruption officer resigned on Monday morning in protest at Johnson. Historically, after an unconvincing confidence vote, a prime minister’s authority has been so severely weakened “that a few months later he resigns.”
The 57-year-old prime minister fought for his political survival in a faction meeting before the vote. “Frankly, there is no alternate vision that I hear,” Johnson said. The opposition Labor Party can only win the next election if the Tories are “dumb enough to engage in a pointless, fratricidal debate about the future of the party”. The best is still ahead of Great Britain, the Tory boss promised and announced tax cuts soon.
The vote of no-confidence came about after more than 54 Tory MPs wrote to vote no confidence in Johnson over the weekend. “More than 15 percent of Conservative party members in Parliament have requested a vote of confidence,” said Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the so-called “1922 Committee” on Monday morning.
The rebellion from within their own ranks had been indicated in the past few days. Johnson was particularly weakened by the so-called “Partygate” scandal. The prime minister had attended several celebrations at the seat of government at 10 Downing Street during the Corona lockdown and was fined for breaking the rules. Shortly thereafter, Acting Secretary of State Sue Gray released an investigative report that held Johnson politically responsible for the rule violations. “You have allowed a culture of breaking the law,” Conservative MP Jesse Norman criticized his party leader on Monday.
Britain slips into stagflation
Johnson won the 2019 general election on a promise to complete the country’s Brexit. However, six years after the historic referendum on the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU, there can be no talk of this. The customs border between Northern Ireland and the EU remains an ongoing point of contention with Brussels. There is a lack of guest workers from the EU on the British labor market. British farmers are suffering from the loss of subsidies from Brussels.
In addition, Great Britain is in the deepest economic crisis for 70 years. Inflation is moving towards ten percent. Economic growth has almost come to a standstill. There is a risk of prolonged stagflation. “We are dealing with an historic shock for real incomes,” Fed Chairman Andrew Bailey recently warned. The cost of living for many Britons has exploded due to rising energy and food prices. The energy bills of most UK households alone will double within a year.
And the next mood test is already waiting. At the end of June, the ruling Tories face two more defeats when important by-elections are held in the constituencies of Wakefield in West Yorkshire and Tiverton and Honiton in Devon. The conservative majority in the lower house is not endangered by this. But the polls in the two constituencies held by the Tories are considered an important barometer for the bad mood in the country.
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