British Prime Minister Johnson to face confidence vote

LONDON, 06 June 2022 [Fik/News Sources]: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face a confidence vote by lawmakers in the governing Conservative Party later on Monday, the chairman of the 1922 Committee Graham Brady has told lawmakers.

“The threshold of 15 percent of the parliamentary party seeking a vote of confidence in the leader of the Conservative Party has been exceeded,” he wrote in a note to Conservative lawmakers.

“In accordance with the rules, a ballot will be held between 1800 and 2000 today Monday, June 6 — details to be confirmed. The votes will be counted immediately afterwards. An announcement will be made at a time to be advised.”

A Conservative Party confidence vote later Monday in UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is a chance “to draw a line and move on”, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

“The PM welcomes the opportunity to make his case to MPs and will remind them that when they’re united and focused on the issues that matter to voters there is no more formidable political force,” the spokesperson added, shortly after the vote was announced.

Johnson, appointed prime minister in 2019, has been under growing pressure, unable to move on from a damaging report over parties held in his Downing Street office and residence when Britain was under strict COVID-19 lockdowns.

Dozens of Conservative lawmakers have voiced concern over whether Johnson, 57, has lost his authority to govern Britain, which is facing the risk of recession, rising fuel and food prices and travel chaos in the capital London because of strike action.

Since the release of a damning report into the so-called ‘partygate’ scandal which documented alcohol-fueled parties at the heart of power when Britain was in coronavirus lockdowns, Johnson and his government have urged lawmakers to move on.

Steve Barclay, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster who was appointed the chief of staff at Downing Street after reports of the parties, urged lawmakers not to “waste the remaining half of the parliament on distractions over leadership.”

“If we continually divert our direction as a Conservative Party — and by extension the government and the country — into a protracted leadership debate, we will be sending out the opposite message,” he wrote on the Conservative website.