UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will remain in his position after members of his Conservative Party held a vote of no confidence on Monday evening.
Johnson was immersed in scandal after it became known that raucous parties were being held at his residence at 10 Downing Street all while the rest of the country was under strict COVID-19 restrictions.
An investigation into the scandal, labelled “Partygate,” found that Johnson broke the law when breaking his own pandemic restrictions.
Johnson’s office also held farewell parties for two staff members on April 16, 2021—the night before Prince Philip’s funeral.
Jamie Davies, a spokesman for the PM, said that Johnson and his team are aware that the parties have generated “significant public anger.”
Boris Johnson faced vote of no confidence
“It’s deeply regrettable that this took palace at a time of national mourning and No. 10 has apologized to the palace,” he said, referring to Johnson’s 10 Downing Street office.
Johnson’s team claims that Johnson himself wasn’t in attendance on April 16th and did not even know that such parties were being held. Despite this, the news of these gatherings has been a significant blow to Johnson’s standing in the British government.
According to the parliamentary system in the UK, at least 15 percent of the PM’s party members must call for the vote of no confidence in order for it to take place, a requirement which was only recently met.
In order to oust Johnson, MPs needed at least 180 lawmakers out of 359 to vote him out. A total of 148 MPs ended up voting in favor of removing him from office.
Although he survived the vote, such a large portion of MPs voting to remove him from office poses a massive threat to Johnson’s power as the leader of his party.
Removing Johnson from office was very popular amongst British adults when they were polled by Opinium on Monday. Out of 2,062 people polled, six out of ten stated that the PM should be voted out.
Just 28 percent of those polled thought that Johnson should remain in office, and 59 percent believed he should be ousted.
Additionally, 58 percent of respondents believe that Johnson’s term has been negative for the country as a whole.
Conservative voters, however, believed that Johnson should remain in office, as only 34 percent of those polled stated that he should be removed.
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