UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to get on with the job as he faced MPs for the first time after winning a confidence vote within the ruling Conservative Party.
Johnson survived a vote of confidence on June 6, with 211 Conservative MPs backing him and 148 wanting him to step down over the partygate scandal. Following the vote, the prime minister called the results “convincing” and “decisive.”
Speaking to the House of Commons on June 8, he said the government will be “expanding homeownership for millions of people” and “cutting the costs of business.”
Johnson said his administration will create “high-wage, high-skilled jobs” for the country.
“And as for jobs, I’m going to get on with mine,” he told lawmakers in a rowdy session of Prime Minister’s Questions.
After Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer questioned the Conservative government’s management of the National Health Service (NHS), Johnson defended his record, telling MPs: “We are making colossal investments in our NHS. We are cutting waiting times, we are raising standards, we are paying nurses more, we are supporting our fantastic NHS.”
He highlighted the “strength of the UK economy” and the “fiscal firepower” which enabled the money to be spent.
“We have the lowest unemployment now since 1974, and we are going to continue to grow our economy for the long term.”
The confidence vote followed the May 25 publication of civil servant Sue Gray’s report into COVID-19 breaches in Downing Street and the remarks by the prime minister’s ethics adviser Lord Christopher Geidt that Johnson may have breached the ministerial code by attending parties during the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.
The vote in his favour means that Johnson is now immune for a year from any further such vote against him being triggered. However, many commentators from across the political spectrum say he may yet be forced out by other political forces.
There were no unfriendly questions from Conservative MPs during the Prime Minister’s Questions, but a number of senior Tory politicians have issued warnings to him.
In a commentary in The Times of London newspaper, former cabinet minister David Davis said Johnson “has let things slide” since the 2019 general election, and his victory in the confidence vote “provides his last chance to get his act together.”
Also writing in the newspaper, William Hague, a former leader of the Conservative Party, said Johnson should look for “an honourable exit” to spare the party and the country further agonies and uncertainties, as his position is no longer sustainable.
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