What next for Boris Johnson?
The prime minister says he wants the government to "move on" after last night's confidence vote. But what challenges does he face in the coming months?
23 June 2022 Two crucial by-elections are taking place after Tory MPs resigned. The Wakefield seat is up for grabs after MP Imran Ahmad Khan was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy. Labour is hoping to overturn the 3,358 majority and regain a seat they held for decades.
In Tiverton and Honiton, the by-election was prompted by Neil Parish's resignation after being caught looking at pornography in the House of Commons. The Conservatives had a huge majority of 24,239 - but Liberal Democrats are hopeful of a shock result.
June 2022 ? The Privileges Committee in Parliament is investigating Johnson for having potentially misled the Commons over Partygate. The committee's inquiry was on hold until the completion of the Met Police investigation and the Sue Gray report. The committee can gather evidence, question witnesses and could find Johnson in contempt of Parliament if it concludes he deliberately misled MPs. It has the power to suspend or even expel MPs from Parliament.
5 October 2022 The speech on the final day of the Conservative Party annual conference is normally a showcase for the leader's vision - and a way to gauge support among the party faithful. It could be a key moment for Johnson to try to restore support.
6 June 2023 Under Conservative Party rules, Johnson is immune from another confidence vote for 12 months. But backbenchers have previously threatened to change the rules to allow another challenge against Theresa May. Could they do the same to Johnson...?
Last night's confidence vote on Boris Johnson's future resulted in 211 Tory MPs backing him, while 148 voted against - meaning 41% of his MPs wanted him to go.
Johnson said it was a "decisive". But how does it compare to previous confidence votes in Tory leaders?
In 2003, Iain Duncan Smith narrowly lost a confidence vote with 55% of Tory MPs voting against him, leading to his resignation.
John Major triggered a leadership contest in 1995 by resigning as Tory leader while still PM, amid disputes over European policy. He won, with 27% of MPs voting for challenger John Redwood, but Major went on to lose the 1997 election.
In 1990, Margaret Thatcher faced her second leadership challenge in 12 months. She won but 40.9% of her MPs backed the challenger, Michael Heseltine. Her cabinet persuaded her to resign.
Rees-Mogg’s different reactions to confidence votes
In December 2018, Jacob Rees-Mogg spoke to the BBC about the result of the confidence vote in Theresa May.
The then prime minister won the vote with 63% of Conservative MPs backing her, somewhat better than the 59% who supported Boris Johnson last night.
At the time, Rees-Mogg described the 2018 verdict as “a terrible result for the prime minister... The prime minister must realise that under all constitutional norms she ought to go and see the Queen urgently and resign.”
However, he described Johnson’s win – with a smaller majority than May – as “a good victory for the prime minister – he won comfortably – and now he is getting on with business”.
On 6 June on Sky News, Rees-Mogg said of his earlier comments on May: “Everyone said to me afterwards that was absolute nonsense and I had to eat a good deal of my own words.”
23 June 2022 Two crucial by-elections are taking place after Tory MPs resigned. The Wakefield seat is up for grabs after MP Imran Ahmad Khan was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy. Labour is hoping to overturn the 3,358 majority and regain a seat they held for decades.
In Tiverton and Honiton, the by-election was prompted by Neil Parish's resignation after being caught looking at pornography in the House of Commons. The Conservatives had a huge majority of 24,239 - but Liberal Democrats are hopeful of a shock result.
June 2022 ? The Privileges Committee in Parliament is investigating Johnson for having potentially misled the Commons over Partygate. The committee's inquiry was on hold until the completion of the Met Police investigation and the Sue Gray report. The committee can gather evidence, question witnesses and could find Johnson in contempt of Parliament if it concludes he deliberately misled MPs. It has the power to suspend or even expel MPs from Parliament.
5 October 2022 The speech on the final day of the Conservative Party annual conference is normally a showcase for the leader's vision - and a way to gauge support among the party faithful. It could be a key moment for Johnson to try to restore support.
6 June 2023 Under Conservative Party rules, Johnson is immune from another confidence vote for 12 months. But backbenchers have previously threatened to change the rules to allow another challenge against Theresa May. Could they do the same to Johnson...?
Last night's confidence vote on Boris Johnson's future resulted in 211 Tory MPs backing him, while 148 voted against - meaning 41% of his MPs wanted him to go.
Johnson said it was a "decisive". But how does it compare to previous confidence votes in Tory leaders?
In 2018, Theresa May survived a confidence vote prompted by her Brexit policy. She had 37% of her MPs voting against her, and resigned six months later.
In 2003, Iain Duncan Smith narrowly lost a confidence vote with 55% of Tory MPs voting against him, leading to his resignation.
John Major triggered a leadership contest in 1995 by resigning as Tory leader while still PM, amid disputes over European policy. He won, with 27% of MPs voting for challenger John Redwood, but Major went on to lose the 1997 election.
In 1990, Margaret Thatcher faced her second leadership challenge in 12 months. She won but 40.9% of her MPs backed the challenger, Michael Heseltine. Her cabinet persuaded her to resign.
In December 2018, Jacob Rees-Mogg spoke to the BBC about the result of the confidence vote in Theresa May.
The then prime minister won the vote with 63% of Conservative MPs backing her, somewhat better than the 59% who supported Boris Johnson last night.
At the time, Rees-Mogg described the 2018 verdict as “a terrible result for the prime minister... The prime minister must realise that under all constitutional norms she ought to go and see the Queen urgently and resign.”
However, he described Johnson’s win – with a smaller majority than May – as “a good victory for the prime minister – he won comfortably – and now he is getting on with business”.
On 6 June on Sky News, Rees-Mogg said of his earlier comments on May: “Everyone said to me afterwards that was absolute nonsense and I had to eat a good deal of my own words.”
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