Boris Johnson survived the no-confidence vote, remains UK Prime Minister

London – Boris Johnson survived a no-confidence vote on Monday and remained in office after MPs from his Conservative political party held a vote to decide whether he should keep his job.

Johnson needed a simple majority of the 359 Conservative MPs to vote for him. He won that with 211 in support and 148 votes against, according to the Associated Press.

A vote of no-confidence is held for the Conservative Party if party leaders receive letters of request from at least 15% of Conservative MPs. That threshold has been crossed, Conservative Party official Graham Brady said Monday morning.

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is not directly elected to serve in this position, but is appointed by the political party that wins the majority of seats in Parliament. If Johnson had lost the vote on Monday, the Conservative Party, which has the majority, would have picked a new leader to automatically take over as prime minister.

Earlier this month, Johnson was fined by the police He broke the law after an investigation found that he and his colleagues had hosted and attended parties in the prime of Britain’s days Corona Virus Closing in 2020.

Known as the “Partygate” scandal, the revelation that government officials were drinking wine and cheese at Johnson’s official residence in No. 10 Downing Street – all captured in the photos – while members of the public were prevented from visiting dying relatives under COVID-19 restrictions sparked mass outrage.

An internal government investigation concluded that there were “failures in leadership and governance,” and that the “higher leadership team” should be held accountable.

Despite leading his Conservative Party to a landslide victory in the 2019 UK general election, Johnson’s popularity has plummeted in recent months and a number of his party members have called for the resignation.

“You simply seek to campaign, keep changing the subject, essentially creating political and cultural dividing lines in your favour, at a time when the economy is struggling, inflation is skyrocketing, growth is weak and better,” said a longtime Johnson supporter. In government Jesse Norman’s letter to the Prime Minister was published on Monday.

Norman described some of Johnson’s policies as “ugly”, “reckless” and “definitely illegal”.

But other Conservative MPs thought it was the wrong time to change the party’s leadership.

“It is critical that we show people that we are delivering the change they voted for in 2019,” Cabinet Secretary Steve Barclay, an ally of Johnson, said in a post on the Conservative Party website.