London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Tory rebels vow to keep trying to topple Johnson after no-confidence vote win

Tory rebels vow to keep trying to topple Johnson after no-confidence vote win

Even the PM’s allies concede it’s ‘the beginning of the end’ after 40% of MPs decline to support leader

Tory rebels have vowed to keep trying to force Boris Johnson from office, as the prime minister’s allies admitted he was reaching “the beginning of the end” after a devastating result in Monday night’s confidence vote.

Johnson’s struggle to hold his divided party together will become more intense, with some of the 148 MPs, or 40%, who voted against him said to be “implacably opposed” to his premiership.

They will hold his feet to the fire as the next Partygate inquiry – into whether the prime minister misled parliament by denying any Covid rules were broken in Downing Street – gets under way in the coming weeks.

Several rebel MPs boasted the government whipping operation had been “appalling” and appeared to collapse under the weight of Monday night’s rebellion, meaning Johnson was now on “borrowed time”.


The divide between those backing and opposing Johnson threatens to derail Downing Street’s attempts to draw a line under the humiliating episode.

Though the majority of Tory MPs supported the prime minister, a significant number voted to oust him in the secret ballot held by the 1922 Committee. The result had echoes of another confidence ballot in 2018, when Theresa May won the support of two-thirds of her party but was left irrevocably damaged.

Government sources insisted the margin of Johnson’s victory did not matter, with one cabinet minister saying “a win is a win”. They said that given the result, the rebels needed to either “change the rules or shut the fuck up”.

Other allies of Johnson said drastic action was needed to restore discipline, such as sacking anyone on the government payroll who remained conspicuously silent on Monday while colleagues tweeted their support.

Though MPs were forbidden from taking pictures of their ballot paper to prove they had voted to support the prime minister, many were told to make public statements.

Another move advocated by senior Tories was to withdraw the Conservative whip from half a dozen “diehard” rebels accused of undermining Johnson and driving the campaign to oust him. The idea was said to be supported by key figures in the Johnson “support group”, made up of his most trusted colleagues.

But such moves could further inflame an already toxic atmosphere in the party, which Johnson warned before the vote was at risk of descending into civil war.

A Tory MP who voted against Johnson said his supporters “need some lessons in how to win friends and influence people” because “they’re not taking people under their arm and trying to understand, they’re being downright nasty and threatening.”

Several voiced concerns that the pending privileges committee inquiry into whether Johnson misled parliament would drag on for months, and would be dogged by further leaks of lockdown parties in Downing Street.

A senior ally of Johnson’s also admitted on Monday night that they believed his administration was “nearing the beginning of the end” because his opponents were “implacably opposed” and determined to bring him down no matter what.


Despite party rules now giving Johnson a reprieve from facing another confidence vote for 12 months, his detractors are likely to push for this to be halved to pile further pressure on him to quit.

They hope that losses in two byelections this month would help convince more colleagues that Johnson has become an electoral liability who will lead the party to defeat at the next general election.

Some are bullish that ministers can be convinced to quit further down the line to pile further pressure on the prime minister. Potential leadership contenders and their teams are likely to remain under the radar, however, leaving no obvious candidate to take over from Johnson.

The threat of a snap general election is being used by some Johnson loyalists, who believe he has a democratic mandate to serve that should not be overruled by MPs. They argue that the government needs to pivot back to focusing on delivering its levelling up agenda.

With the Tories failing to register a lead in any national poll since December, campaign strategists are desperate to refocus on work to tackle the cost of living crisis and the backlog of NHS operations, as well as supporting Ukraine in its efforts to drive out the invading Russian forces.

Meanwhile, Labour insiders are confident that the turmoil over Johnson will only lead to the Conservatives’ popularity plummeting further and are happy to let the “chaos unfold”.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×