BORIS Johnson is set to meet his Cabinet today as he seeks to "move on" from the no confidence vote that took place.
Tory MPs voted by 211 to 148 in support of the Prime Minister on Monday (June 6), but the scale of the revolt against his leadership left him wounded.
Johnson insisted he had secured a “decisive” victory despite 148 of his own MPs voting to oust him, arguing the Government could now “move on” and focus on what “really matters to people”.
He also poured cold water on the prospect of a snap election, saying he was “certainly not interested” in the idea.
But while allies of Johnson have insisted his ballot victory should draw a line under the question of his leadership, Labour and the LibDems are moving to apply further pressure on the PM.
Labour are pushing a Commons vote on standards, while leader of the LibDems Sir Ed Davey has said his party will put forward a vote of no confidence in the House.
Labour are urging MPs from all sides to back calls for Johnson’s ethics adviser to be given the freedom to launch his own investigations into potential ministerial rule breaches.
Should Boris Johnson resign?
When Theresa May faced a confidence vote in 2018 she secured the support of 63% of her MPs, but was still forced out within six months.
Johnson saw 41% of his MPs vote against him, a worse result than May.
But the Prime Minister told reporters in Downing Street: “I think it’s an extremely good, positive, conclusive, decisive result which enables us to move on, to unite and to focus on delivery and that is exactly what we are going to do.”
He rejected the assertion that he was now a lame duck prime minister who needed to call a snap election to secure a new mandate from the public, insisting he was focused on people’s priorities.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel