Boris Johnson SURVIVES confidence vote and vows to ‘bash on’ but is wounded by huge Tory rebellion

BORIS Johnson narrowly survived a confidence vote last night as 148 Tory rebels stabbed him in the back.

The PM, supported by 211 MPs, vowed: “We are going to bash on.”

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His survival by the skin of his teeth left him just 32 votes from oblivion.

Two in five Conservatives voted to kick him out of office in a wounding confidence vote following Partygate.

Last night, Mr Johnson described the result as decisive and said it was time for the party to put the rows of the last few months behind them.

He said: “What it means is, as a Government, we can move on and focus on the stuff that I think really matters to people.

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“I’m grateful to colleagues and the support they’ve given me.

“What we need to do now is come together as a government and a party.”

Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, announced the result and revealed that 211 MPs had stayed loyal. But in a major blow to Mr Johnson’s premiership 148 voted to kick him out of No 10 — 41 per cent of MPs.

If 32 more Tory MPs had voted against him, the PM would have been forced to quit.

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The figure of 148 represented a greater percentage than the 37 per cent that voted to kick out Theresa May in 2018 — and she was ousted six months later.

It also falls short of Margaret Thatcher and John Major’s numbers in the dying days of their governments.

But despite the rebels failing to deliver a knockout blow, the result will have weakened Mr Johnson’s grip on the party and the door is wide open for more months of Tory infighting.

Current party rules mean Mr Johnson is safe from a fresh challenge for another year, but there are already plots in Westminster to try to change those rules.

Last night, Mr Johnson’s supporters put on a brave face, saying the result put the leadership question to bed. One minister insisted: “No one can remember the score of a test match two years ago — or even two days ago — but you remember who won.”

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi risked ridicule by suggesting “the Prime Minster won handsomely” and claiming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be “punching the air at the result”.

And Cabinet Office Chief Nigel Adams insisted: “Tonight, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has won another clear mandate as leader of the Conservative Party.

BY THE SKIN OF HIS TEETH

“Now we can fully focus on delivering on the people’s priorities and put leadership speculation and distractions behind us for good.”

But privately Cabinet ministers admitted the result was “near worst-case scenario”. One senior Tory said: “That is a catastrophic result for Boris.”

Another added: “He must listen to the sheer scale of the rebellion and go now, for the sake of the country.”

Tory MP Julian Sturdy was the first out of the blocks calling for Mr Johnson to step down.

The York MP said there was “clear evidence that he no longer enjoys the full-hearted confidence of the parliamentary party and should consider his position”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Conservative MPs have failed to “show some backbone”, choosing to ignore public sentiment.

He said the result means the Tory Party believes “breaking the law is no impediment to making the law” and that people have “no right to expect honest politicians”.

Allies of Mr Johnson have insisted he will carry on as PM even though significant numbers of Tory MPs refused to back him.

It's near worst-case scenario... That is a catastrophic result for Boris

Tory sources

Jacob Rees-Mogg had claimed victory by even a single vote would have been enough for him to continue. Mr Johnson’s win came after he had spent the day pleading with his Tory MPs not to risk “utter disaster” under Labour by choosing to oust him.

But he risked putting off wavering MPs by suggesting he “would do it again” when asked about Partygate. However, aides insisted he meant thanking staff for their hard work during the pandemic.

The bullish PM spent all of Monday fighting tooth and nail to stay in Downing Street and “draw a line” under recent woes.

He even sent a personalised letter to each Tory MP after hours of crisis meetings about how to charm his critics. His letters said it would be “destructive, decisive and distracting” to change leader now.

Dangling the prospect of electoral defeat, he said constant in-fighting would pave the way for Sir Keir Starmer and Labour to take over.

He said: “They would be an utter disaster in office. Forced to erode our precious union by alliance with the SNP.

“And the only way we will let that happen is if we were so foolish as to descend into some pointless fratricidal debate about the future of our party.”

But while the Cabinet publicly backed him, the PM lost the support of all but two of his six Scottish Tory MPs, with one quitting as a junior government aide to vote against him.

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Following the result, one MP said: “This place is full of snakes saying one thing and doing another — including ministers. If this was a coup, it was a p***-poor coup.”

Tory former minister Steve Baker said this is a “very, very sad day” and reiterated his call for the PM to go. And Tory MP Shailesh Vara said the last thing the public wants is the “orgy of self-indulgence” of a leadership contest.