For a man who long set his sights on becoming Britain's prime minister, Boris Johnson came dangerously close on Monday to being ousted by lawmakers tired of defending him and faces a battle to win back the confidence of his party and country.
He survives, just, for now. But he is deeply wounded and even loyal lawmakers who backed him in a confidence vote say he must now change - return to the traditional ideals of the governing Conservative Party, foster unity and lead.
Johnson won the vote 211 to 148, a worse showing than when lawmakers tried to oust his predecessor Theresa May, who won her vote but then resigned six months later.The confidence vote was a brutal wake up call for a leader whose mandate once seemed unassailable after his promise to "get Brexit done" in 2019 won over voters in parts of the country the Conservatives had never been able to capture and the party's biggest majority in over three decades.
It was perhaps the lack of cohesion in Monday's rebellion that helped save him. But it has left him weakened.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits St Mary Cray Primary Academy School to see how they are delivering tutoring to help children catch up following the coronavirus disease pandemic, in Orpington, Britain May 23, 2022.
"If you don't believe that we can come back from our current position and win again then you haven't looked at my own record or the record of this party," he said, according to a senior party source in the meeting. For some in the party the rot set in when he defended his former adviser Dominic Cummings when he broke COVID-19 rules early in the pandemic, enraging the country.
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