London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Aug 30, 2025

Time to draw a line under Partygate, Boris Johnson tells cabinet

Time to draw a line under Partygate, Boris Johnson tells cabinet

Boris Johnson has promised to cut taxes and government waste after surviving an attempt by his own MPs to oust him.

The prime minister thanked ministers for their support in a confidence vote, which saw 41% of Tory MPs saying they had lost faith in him.

He urged them to "draw a line" under questions about his leadership and vowed a return to "fundamental" Tory economic policies.

The number of rebels in Monday night's vote was higher than predicted.

And some Conservative MPs are still publicly calling on him to quit over widespread Covid rule-breaking in Downing Street.

Tobias Ellwood, a longstanding critic of the PM, said the "honourable way forward" would be for him to "step back" and accept that the task of uniting the Conservative Party to win the next general election is "too big".

But he added: "We have to deal with the reality that those days of an honourable resignation are not there."
Senior government figures have come out to defend Mr Johnson, including Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab who said there was "no credible alternative" to the prime minister.

And backbencher Philip Davies - who voted against Mr Johnson on Monday - said: "The prime minister won fair and square. My view is that you've got to accept the result. If you lose a vote, you accept it. That's the whole point of democracy."

The PM has also received support from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who told a Financial Times event he was "very happy" the UK leader had remained in post.


The prime minister may want to draw a line under questions over his leadership - but many of his MPs are not willing to do so.

Senior MPs have told the BBC that there would be significant pressure on the 1922 committee to change the current rules - which protect the prime minister from another confidence vote for 12 months.

Rebels believe if the Conservatives lose the two by-elections being held later this month, in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and Tiverton Honiton, in Devon - that will prompt a new leadership crisis.

They also believe the scandal over lockdown parties in Downing Street is far from over, with the Commons privileges committee still to look into whether the PM misled Parliament when he denied parties had been held in downing street and insisted all rules had been followed.

That could unearth new evidence - and the conclusions could be highly damaging.

Last night's confidence vote result does not resolve the debate on Boris Johnson's future.

As one senior backbencher put it, it means the prime minster thinks he can stay on - but the rebels think they are within touching distance of bringing him down.

In the confidence vote, triggered by Partygate, Mr Johnson was backed by 211 Conservative MPs, but 148 voted to remove him.

Mr Johnson hailed this as a "decisive" victory - and on Tuesday morning told a cabinet meeting his "fundamental Conservative instinct" was to allow people to decide how to spend their money.

He urged cabinet ministers to find ways to make savings and told them "delivering tax cuts" would help deliver "considerable growth in employment and economic progress".

But Labour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said Mr Johnson did not have "any sense of honour" and should resign.

Speaking to BBC News, she said Tory MPs who voted to keep the PM in office were "just not listening to the scale of frustration and anger across the country".

"There's really got to be some consequences when someone just isn't telling the truth, isn't fit for office, isn't taking the action the country needs".


Mr Johnson won the confidence of 59% of his MPs, however, his critics have noted that his predecessor Theresa May secured the support of 63% when she faced her own confidence vote but was still forced out of office six months later.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey described Mr Johnson as a "lying lawbreaker" who was "clinging on by the skin of his teeth" while SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford likened him to a "dead man walking".

"Whether it's by Tory MPs finally acting in a responsible manner or indeed the Privileges Committee taking action against him, he will be gone," Mr Blackford said.


Watch: Time to draw a line and take country forward - PM to Cabinet


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
×