Britain’s PM Survives Confidence Vote Over Booze Parties
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
LONDON (Worthy News) – Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed a “decisive victory” in a confidence vote by his Conservative Party triggered by concern over his attendance at parties during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
Conservative lawmakers backed the embattled leader by a vote of 211-148.
Under Conservative Party rules, Johnson now can’t be challenged for another year, but commentators were quick to say his problems are far from over.
Johnson told reporters it’s “an extremely good, positive, conclusive, decisive result which enables us to move on” to talk “exclusively” about things that matter to the British people.
Yet opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer said the Conservatives had to decide whether or not to “show some backbone or to back Boris Johnson.”
He argued that the public was “fed up with a prime minister who promises big but never delivers.”
JOHNSON’S BEHAVIOR
Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey said the result meant Conservative legislators are now “fully responsible for the prime minister’s behavior.” He added that “they have narrowly voted to keep a lawbreaker and liar in No 10,” referencing the prime minister’s official address in London.
The Scottish National Party (SNP), which campaigns for Scotland’s independence from Britain, noted that Conservatives “should have drawn a line under Boris Johnson’s disastrous time as prime minister but instead, they’ve bottled it.”
The party concluded that “the UK is now stuck in limbo with a lame-duck prime minister who has lost the confidence of the public – and more than 40 percent of his own” legislators.
Johnson, 57, had also come under pressure from British people who could not visit, in some cases, dying loved ones in care homes during the lockdowns while he attended parties.
The series of drinking parties held in Downing Street during lockdown often contravened Covid-19 rules, police said.
While Johnson urged his lawmakers to move on from the scandal, a parliamentary committee continues to probe whether he deliberately misled Parliament by repeatedly claiming that such parties never happened.
Johnson was fined for attending a lockdown birthday party in his honor. Misleading Parliament is a resigning offense, according to Britain’s ministerial code. Johnson denies lying and has apologized for the parties.
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