British PM Boris Johnson bruised but not out after winning confidence vote

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won the backing of a majority of Conservative MPs in a confidence vote on Monday despite a significant revolt against his leadership.

Johnson won 59% of the vote and his leadership of the party now cannot be challenged for another year.

The confidence vote was called after at least 15% of Conservative MPs wrote letters of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the party's backbench 1922 Committee.

The internal party vote saw 211 Tory MPs vote they had confidence in the PM's leadership while 148 voted against him.

Johnson called the victory “decisive” and “convincing” as he struck an upbeat tone.
The last Tory leader to face a confidence vote was Theresa May in 2018, which she won by 63%, only to resign six months later over a Brexit deadlock.

Johnson, who became prime minister in 2019, was informed he would face a vote on his leadership on Sunday during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, after weeks of speculation over his future.

Discontent among Conservative MPs has grown since a highly critical report into lockdown parties in and near Downing Street during the COVID-19 pandemic was published last month.

The report found COVID rule-breaking at the prime minister’s office, including at a birthday party Johnson was fined by the police for attending in June 2020.

The fine meant Johnson became the UK's first serving prime minister to be sanctioned for breaking the law.

But some Tory MPs have also expressed dissent over tax rises, the government's response to rising living costs and its policy direction.