‘Weak’ Boris Johnson remains prime minister, but … ‘will have to fight for political survival every day’

Boris Johnson is not the only Conservative British leader who faced a vote of confidence and survived in the first place.

Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, faced a vote of confidence in December 2018 after she failed to get her Brexit deal through Parliament. She won 63 percent (Boris Johnson now has 59 percent). Five months later, she’s still throwing in the towel, due to the failed Brexit deal and the poor result in the European elections. She came to vote yesterday in a “party dress with a big smile on her face.” She said to herself that she still had to go to the jubilee dinner.

In 1989, Margaret Thatcher also had to contend with a vote of confidence. She convincingly won it with 84 percent of the vote. However, this result indicated that there was some discontent within her party with Thatcher, who was then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for a decade.

Resentment grew the following year. Once again he came to the vote and Thatcher won again, but the margin wasn’t big enough so a second round had to be organized according to the rules at the time. The combative Thatcher initially wanted to participate, but withdrew two days later, ending her legendary premiership.