Boris Johnson latest news: PM to meet cabinet as he seeks to ‘move on’ amid major rebellion

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Boris Johnson says no-confidence vote win ‘decisive’ despite mass Tory rebellion

Boris Johnson is set to meet his cabinet today as he aims to “move on” from the bruising vote of confidence amid mass Tory rebellion against him.

The prime minister insisted he secured a “decisive” victory even as 148 of his own MPs voted to oust him.

Having the secured support of 211 parliamentarians, Mr Johnson told broadcasters he had a “far bigger mandate” than he did when he voted in as leader in 2019, adding he was “happy with that”.

Labor leader Keir Starmer said the British public was “fed up” with a prime minister that promised big and failed to deliver and who had “presided over a culture of lies and law-breaking in parliament”.

Despite the victory on Monday night, Mr Johnson faces an uncertain political future. A steady stream of Tory MPs have called publicly for him to stand down in the wake of Sue Gray’s report into breaches of the Covid-19 regulations in No 10 and Whitehall.

Key pointsShow latest update 1654577229Third of cash raised by Sunak’s windfall levy ‘could be handed back to oil and gas firms’ in tax breaks

A third or more of any revenue raised by the chancellor’s new windfall tax on oil and gas profits could be handed back to the firms in tax breaks, according to analysis by the Labor Party.

Submitting an urgent question in Parliament on Monday, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the government’s decision to introduce the levy last month was a “welcome U-turn” but added that Rishi Sunak had also “created a tax giveaway for oil and gas producers that toughs it”.

Mr Sunak recently announced a temporary 25 per cent windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas companies to help support struggling households with the cost of living crisis gripping the UK.

Read the details in this report by our climate correspondent Saphora Smith:

Namita Singh7 June 2022 05:47

1654574510 What happens next?

The prime minister has insisted that a confidence vote which saw almost 150 of his own MPs try to force him from the helm of the Conservative party was a “decisive” victory for him.

Despite winning tonight’s ballot by 211 votes to 148, Boris Johnson has found himself in the eye of a revolt against his premiership, the scale of which far surpassed the expectations of Mr Johnson’s allies – failing to put to bed questions over his leadership.

But, ever brazen, the prime minister told reporters in No 10: “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.”

Despite winning today’s vote, Mr Johnson finds himself in perilous territory, reports my colleague Emily Atkinson:

Namita Singh7 June 2022 05:01

1654573233’Boris Johnson should exit no 10,’ says Hague

Former Conservative leader William Hague demanded Boris Johnson quits his premiership arguing that he had an experienced “greater level of rejection” in the confidence vote than any of his predecessors.

Mr Johnson, who won the ballot by 211 to 148, saw 41 per cent of his MPs vote against him, compared to Theresa May who secured the support of 63 per cent of her MPs.

“While Johnson has survived the night, the damage done to his premiership is severe,” Lord Hague wrote in The Times.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street in central London on 6 June 2022

(Getty Images)

Words have been said that cannot be retracted, published reports that cannot be erased, and votes have been cast that show a greater level of rejection than any Tory leader has ever endured and survived. Deep inside, he should recognise that, and turn his mind to getting out in a way that spares party and country such agonies and uncertainties.

William Hague

Lord Hague noted that “the nature of this particular revolt makes it qualitatively as well as quantitatively devastating.”

“A fairly narrow victory for Boris Johnson is not the defeat of a rival faction, or the squashing of an alternative candidate, but rather the fending-off of a gathering feeling of hopelessness,” he wrote.

Namita Singh7 June 2022 04:40

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Boris Johnson says no-confidence vote win ‘decisive’ despite mass Tory rebellion

Joe Middleton7 June 2022 04:00

1654568100Tory MPs demand cabinet cull after deeply wounded Boris Johnson scrapes through confidence vote

Boris Johnson is facing demands for a wholesale cull of his cabinet after scraping through a vote of no confidence in his leadership by 211 votes to 148.

The PM’s victory in the ballot of Tory MPs spared him the humiliation of ejection from 10 Downing Street by his own party, but left him deeply wounded as he faces two by-elections later this month and a general election less than two years away.

The tally of 41.2 per cent of Tory MPs opposing the leader was far worse than expected by Mr Johnson’s allies and significantly higher than the 36.9 per cent voting no confidence in Theresa May six months before she was forced from office.

Joe Middleton7 June 2022 03:15

1654565423Who could replace Boris Johnson? Latest odds

Despite winning Monday’s no-confidence vote, Boris Johnson is facing speculation over his long-term future after 148 Tory MPs voted against him.

Even before the no-confidence vote, he was odds-on at 4/9 to leave No 10 according to Betfair.

The list of runners and riders to replace Mr Johnson has lengthened in recent months, but there are several contenders should he eventually be forced out of Downing Street.

Joe Middleton7 June 2022 02:30

1654562723Boris Johnson is holed below the waterline

Our chief political commentator John Rentoul writes: Worse than Theresa May. That is not a comparison Boris Johnson wanted made, but his confidence vote was worse than hers, which she also “won”, in 2018. Johnson has lost the majority of his backbenchers and more than 40 per cent of the whole parliamentary party. For all the bravado beforehand about a one vote being enough, he knew he had to win by an emphatic margin, and he knows now that this is not it.

Winning by 211 votes to 148 is in the middle of the gray zone of neither winning decisively nor losing. This is the result that Keir Starmer wanted: keeping Johnson afloat, but holed below the waterline and sinking slowly. Who knows how much more damage the prime minister can inflict on the Tory party’s reputation before he goes?

Never mind all the mythology about the Conservative Party’s ruthlessness. It is not easy to be ruthless when you cannot be sure what your fellow conspirators are doing. A secret letter-writing campaign to trigger a secret ballot is a difficult system to organise, for or against the leader. If MPs had known what the result was going to be, they might have voted differently. Then, they might have been ruthless and decided to get rid of the prime minister straight away.

Joe Middleton7 June 2022 01:45

1654560023Keir Starmer hits out at Tory MPs for supporting Johnson’s ‘law-breaking’ leadership

Keir Starmer hits out at Tory MPs for supporting Johnson’s ‘law-breaking’ leadership

Joe Middleton7 June 2022 01:00

1654557323ICYMI: Government aid quits as Scottish Tory MPs turn against Boris Johnson in confidence vote

One of the few Scots in Boris Johnson’s government quit his post to join the majority of Conservative MPs from north of the border who voted against the prime minister in Monday’s confidence vote.

John Lamont stood down as private secretary in the Foreign Office saying that he had received thousands of messages from constituents who were “rightly deeply angered” by lockdown-breeching parties in Downing Street.

At least four of the six Scottish Conservatives in the House of Commons voted to remove Mr Johnson, including Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross and former Scotland secretary David Mundell.

Joe Middleton7 June 2022 00:15

1654554590 Tory MPs demand cabinet cull after deeply wounded Boris Johnson scrapes through confidence vote

Boris Johnson is facing demands for a wholesale cull of his cabinet after scraping through a vote of no confidence in his leadership by 211 votes to 148.

The PM’s victory in the ballot of Tory MPs spared him the humiliation of ejection from 10 Downing Street by his own party, but left him deeply wounded as he faces two by-elections later this month and a general election less than two years away.

The tally of 41.2 per cent of Tory MPs opposing the leader was far worse than expected by Mr Johnson’s allies and significantly higher than the 36.9 per cent voting no confidence in Theresa May six months before she was forced from office.

Kate Devlin, Andrew Woodcock, Rob Merrick and Anna Isaac have the details.

Joe Middleton6 June 2022 23:29

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