LONDON — Britain’s embattled Prime Minister
Boris Johnson vowed on Tuesday to plough on with policy priorities including the
economy and Ukraine, but was urged by a Conservative predecessor to quit and
save the nation from further “agonies”.
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Addressing his Cabinet
a day after narrowly fending off a no-confidence vote from his own Conservative
MPs, Johnson said: “We’re able now to draw a line under the issues that our
opponents want to talk about.”
But most critics
and commentators disagreed, with many characterizing the margin of his win —
211 votes to 148 — as a “Pyrrhic” victory that left the Tory leader drained of
much authority.
Johnson’s former
employers at the Daily Telegraph branded it “a hollow victory that tears Tories
apart”.
“Party’s over,
Boris,” headlined the Daily Mirror, in a nod to a series of lockdown-busting
parties held in Downing Street, which saw Johnson fined by police and drew
outrage from voters.
The prime
minister’s team tried to regain the offensive by pointing to a setpiece speech
expected in the coming days on new economic support measures, as Britons
struggle with a cost-of-living crisis.
The government
is also expected to introduce new legislation to unilaterally walk away from
its post-Brexit commitments on Northern Ireland, placating some right-wingers
but likely infuriating the
EU.
‘True friend’ to
Ukraine
However, a Cabinet reshuffle
to replenish his team of
Brexit loyalists is not “currently” on the cards,
Johnson’s spokesman said.
Nor is a snap
general election, the prime minister said after the vote, pointing to the
pressing need for government unity in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Britain has been
at the forefront of European military support for the government of
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who spoke by phone to Johnson in the hours before
Monday’s Conservative ballot.
At an online
event on Tuesday hosted by the Financial Times, Zelensky said he was “very
happy” that Johnson had survived the vote.
“Boris Johnson
is a true friend of Ukraine,” the president added, speaking through a
translator.
But at home,
many question whether Johnson can recover voters’ trust, as the party braces
for two Westminster by-elections this month and an upcoming investigation by
MPs into whether he lied to parliament over “Partygate”.
Even without any
obvious candidate to succeed him, former Tory party leader William Hague argued
that Johnson should now “look for an honorable exit”.
Comparing
Monday’s margin to votes that ultimately toppled Johnson’s predecessors
Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May, Hague said it showed “a greater level of
rejection than any Tory leader has ever endured and survived”.
“Deep inside, he
should recognize that, and turn his mind to getting out in a way that spares
party and country such agonies and uncertainties,” Hague wrote in The Times.
But in his
personal life, populist politics and bombastic style, Johnson is unlike
previous Conservative leaders, and his camp spent Monday arguing that even a
majority of one would suffice.
‘A matter of
months’
Johnson, 57, needed the backing of 180 of the 359 Conservatives MPs to
survive the vote.
Most of
Johnson’s Cabinet publicly backed him in the secret ballot. But more than 40
percent of the parliamentary party did not.
Under current
Tory rules, the prime minister cannot be challenged again for a year, which
leaves little time for any new leader to emerge before the next general
election due by 2024.
But the party’s
“1922 committee” of MPs, tasked with overseeing leadership challenges, says it
could easily change the rules if a majority backs it.
Senior
backbencher
Tobias Ellwood, who voted against Johnson, said the prime minister
should revamp his Cabinet to “bring in fresh talent and actually start to focus
on the big issues”.
But Ellwood said
Johnson was likely to ignore such advice and faced being kicked out before
long.
“I think we’re
talking a matter of months, up to party conference (in October),” he told Sky
News.
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