He saved his post, but his position is, for some, untenable: Boris Johnson seeks to turn the page on the scandals, but must reassemble a divided party and win back his voters.
The head of the British government survived Monday a vote of no confidence from the deputies of his party – the Conservative Party – provoked by rebels exasperated by scandals like the “ party gate », these parties in Downing Street during the confinements linked to the COVID-19.
Even if he cannot be targeted by another motion of no confidence for a year, his delicate mission is to seduce his troops and his electorate again, scalded by scandals and strangled by inflation, at their highest in 40 year.
Speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, Boris Johnson said his government was finally able to “draw a line” on the controversies. Its objective is now to “move the country forward” by relying on measures benefiting the British, in the midst of a purchasing power crisis.
Although he welcomed a “convincing” result in the secret ballot, more than four in ten MPs from his camp (148 out of 359 voters) said they did not trust in him, reflecting the extent of the malaise and the blow to his authority over his majority.
By comparison, former Prime Minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence motion in 2018 by a larger margin, before being forced to resign a few months later.
In the event of defeat, an internal election would have been called to appoint a new party leader, who would become head of government.
But if rumors rumble about the names of possible candidates for his replacement, none really stands out, which benefits Boris Johnson.
“Humiliation”
Having triumphantly come to power in 2019, Boris Johnson now seems to be in a precarious position. Even the conservative newspaper The Telegraph points out that the Tories come out of the vote “divided” and evokes a simple “respite” for the Prime Minister, “seriously affected”.
For political scientist Anand Menon, of King’s College London, “the vote is a massive blow to the Prime Minister”. “I doubt very much that he will resign, the question is therefore whether the deputies, visibly dissatisfied, will find a way to oust him,” he explains to Agence France-Presse. As long as he remains, “the Prime Minister’s vulnerability will be the main factor influencing government action: it will be difficult to interpret all political announcements, all initiatives, other than as tactics to compensate for his weakness” .
In recent months, the government has multiplied the announcements aimed at the conservative electorate – fight against illegal immigration, reduction of the wait for medical appointments or even freezing of the audiovisual license fee – without halting its fall in popularity.
Among the faithful, the Minister of Justice, Dominic Raab, assured that Boris Johnson was strong with “renewed energy” after having “clearly” won the vote.
The damage is however “considerable”, warned the former conservative leader William Hague in The Times. “Words have been spoken that cannot be retracted, reports issued that cannot be erased and votes cast that show a level of rejection greater than ever for a Conservative leader. »
Despite the relief of having won over a majority of Tory MPs, Boris Johnson is not done with the repercussions of the ” party gate “.
After those of the police and senior civil servant Sue Gray, another investigation, this time parliamentary, is planned. If the latter concludes, a priori in the fall, that Boris Johnson misled the House of Commons by claiming not to have broken the rules, he is supposed to resign.
Two by-elections scheduled for June 23 will also be a test for the conservative leader, who on Monday ruled out the possibility of early elections.
The polls follow one another and are catastrophic for the majority, less and less convinced that its leader, triumphant at the polls in 2019, is the best placed to lead them to victory in the legislative elections of 2024.