British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a grilling from opponents in Parliament today [Macau time] — and a more worrying threat from his own party’s restive lawmakers, dozens of whom are plotting to oust him over a string of lockdown-flouting government parties.
Conservative legislators are judging whether to trigger a no-confidence vote in Johnson amid public anger over the “partygate” scandal. It’s a stunning reversal of fortune for a politician who just over two years ago led the Conservatives to their biggest election victory in almost 40 years.
Johnson and loyal ministers were using a mix of pressure and promises in an effort to bring rebels back into line before they submit letters to a party committee calling for a vote of no confidence.
Under Conservative Party rules, a no-confidence vote in the party’s leader can be triggered if 54 party lawmakers write letters to a party official demanding it.
So far only a handful of Conservative members of Parliament have openly called for Johnson to quit, though several dozen are believed to have submitted letters, including some legislators elected as part of a Johnson-led landslide in December 2019.
