TORY PM Boris Johnson was mortally wounded in the no confidence vote in parliament last night, with 40% of Tory MPs voting against his leadership of the party.
Yesterday morning, Sir Graham Brady, Chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs announced that he had received more than the required 54 letters calling for a vote of confidence, with the vote taking place between 6pm and 8pm.
At 9pm Brady announced that Johnson had won by 211 votes to 148 and therefore: ‘I can announce that the parliamentary party does have confidence in the prime minister.’
Before the vote, former Tory cabinet minister David Gauke said: ‘If more than 100 vote against him it’s bad news for Boris Johnson. If it gets to 133, comparing it with Theresa May, then that’s a very uncomfortable result for him.’
May was forced to resign as PM shortly after 133 Tory MPs voted against her in a confidence vote in 2018.
Johnson claimed after the result: ‘A very good result, a convincing result, a decisive result. I’ve got a far bigger mandate and I’m grateful to colleagues for the support they have given me. We must come together as a party and put behind us all the stuff the media want us to focus on. I am pleased because we have the chance to talk exclusively about these things.’
On 23rd June, there are by-elections in two Tory-held seats, in Wakefield and Tiverton, which the Tories are expected to lose.
But before then, the TUC has called a march on parliament on Saturday 18th June.
Tens of thousands of workers and youth on the march will be demanding that this must be the start of a general strike to kick the Tories out!
