London: Boris Johnson was elected British Prime Minister on Monday. However, there was a strong rebellion within the Conservative Party regarding “party gate”, which harmed his authority.
Johnson, who had a huge victory in the 2019 election, is now under increased pressure. His staff and he held alcohol-fuelled parties at Downing Street when Britain was under lockdown to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnson suffered a defeat with 41% voting against him after months of scandals. His authority to manage Britain’s affairs has been in question and his popularity among the public has plummeted.
A master of political comebacks and a master of political rebuttals, instead called the vote a “decisive” result meaning that as a government, we can continue to “focus on the stuff I believe really matters for people”. Johnson, who has for weeks tried to divert the national conversation from “party gate”, said, “We can concentrate on the things we’re trying to do to help people with the cost-of-living, what are we doing to clear the COVID Backlogs, and what we’re going to do to make streets, communities safer by putting in more police.”
Johnson has seen his fortune change and this shows how angry he is. He was met with jeers and boos as well as some muted cheers at events to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth.
Numerous lawmakers said that Johnson was defeated by 148 after 211 of them voted in his favor. This was despite Johnson being the Conservatives’ largest majority in over three decades.
“Boris Johnson won’t be able to vote at this time. David Jones, a former ministry minister, explained to Reuters that Johnson would also be able to understand that the party’s next priority is to restore cohesion. “I am confident he’ll be up to the challenge.”
Others were less optimistic. On condition of anonymity, a Conservative lawmaker stated that it was “clearly much worse than most people had expected.” But it is still too early to predict what might happen. Roger Gale is a long-time critic of Johnson and urged the prime minister to go back down to Downing Street tonight in order to carefully consider where he will end up.
