In the meantime, Boris Johnson wants to drive reform, cut costs and deliver greater economic growth.
by Victor Cherubim
Despite the bombshell vote on Monday evening 6 June 2022 by the Parliamentary Conservative Party when their party MP’s voted 211 to 148 in favour of the vote of confidence in Boris Johnson, there is much uncertainty.
Today Boris remains publicly upbeat. He is and always has been a politician with humour and wit. He believes the confidence vote was an “extremely good, positive, conclusive, decisive result, which enables him to move on and to focus on delivery”. That is exactly what he says he is going to do.
But for those of us who have seen how, the Tories have changed their leaders over time, this makes sad reading. Knowing previous votes of confidence on Tory Prime Ministers, the most recent being Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher, it seems the beginning of the end of Boris Johnson’s Premiership.
Some maintain that this crisis has been blown up by Tory leadership contenders, others state it’s the Opposition Labour Party, and still others contend the media, whilst polls have left the Tories damaged but still in power with bitter division.
We know that Boris took this role after two terms as Mayor of London and public acclaim in the polls with an overwhelming majority of 80 odd MP’s, many from the Red Wall “levelling up” seats in the North of England.
He came to do a difficult job when Theresa May resigned in December 2019. He had to contend with Brexit, he unexpectedly had to oversee the COVID-19 pandemic, and he was considered a safe pair of hands to see through the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Hours after the Jubilee was over, he suffered a “greater level of so-called rejection” than any of his predecessors.
Boris Johnson is 58 years and still has much to offer in public service.
It seems like a fairy tale, his job done according to his critics, and though he may remain for some time, as a lame-duck Prime Minister, he is perhaps, looking for other challenges to take, head-on.
The end of a chapter, but in my opinion, there are other pages and chapters in Boris’s “Book of Revelations” to read.
Lord William Hague, a former Conservative leader wrote in The Times newspaper, “While Johnson has survived the night, the damage done to his premiership is severe. Words have been said that cannot be retracted, reports published 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.”
We know that when Theresa May won her vote of confidence securing 63% of her MP’s, she was claimed as “a dead woman walking”, resigning within six months, now the words used by a former minister, about Boris is: “He is toast “.
The late news is that some 20 or more Tory frontbenchers are at risk of being sacked as Boris Johnson restores his authority as Prime Minister.
In the meantime, Boris Johnson wants to drive reform, cut costs and deliver greater economic growth.
Jeremy Hunt, MP, a previous contender for the premiership and who has called for Boris Johnson to go early, is the bookies’ 4/1 favourite to replace Boris, while Minister Penny Mordaunt follows behind at 6/1, Liz Truss at 13/2 and Tim Tugendhat at 7/1.
The question in Westminster is how long Boris Johnson can last?
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