
That same lack of coordination could handicap future efforts to dislodge Mr. It was less a carefully orchestrated coup attempt than an organic movement of fed-up Tory lawmakers. That reflects the inchoate nature of this rebellion, according to analysts. Johnson’s political position will deteriorate even further in coming months, some rebels in his Conservative Party might wonder whether they acted prematurely in forcing a vote now rather than waiting.

Johnson faces more turmoil of his own: A Parliamentary committee is looking into whether he misled lawmakers about the scandal over Downing Street parties, while the government’s handling of the pandemic will be the subject of a public inquiry. And it would antagonize the European Union at a time when Britain can ill afford further turmoil. But other Tories argue that it would be a breach of international law. That would please hard-core Brexiteers in the party, some of whom voted against Mr. “Deep inside, he should recognize that, and turn his mind to getting out in a way that spares party and country such agonies and uncertainties.” “Votes have been cast that show a greater level of rejection than any Tory leader has ever endured and survived,” Mr. He bluntly told the prime minister to resign. And further evidence that he has become a vote loser would be damaging.Īmong the post-mortems on Monday, the most unforgiving may have come from William Hague, a former Conservative leader who has been relatively restrained in his criticism of Mr. But how Tories would campaign for the re-election of a prime minister they have declared unfit for office is an open question. Johnson is that no rival Conservative leader can appeal to such a cross-section of voters. Johnson also faces acute difficulties in Scotland, where he has never been popular and has now been disowned by four of the six Scottish Conservative members of the Westminster Parliament - including their leader, Douglas Ross - who voted against the prime minister on Monday. A Labour victory would be a sign both that it is starting to win back its heartlands under its leader, Keir Starmer, and that Mr. The party’s former lawmaker, Imran Ahmad Khan, quit after being convicted of sexually assaulting a teenager. In Wakefield, a “red wall” district in the north of England that the Conservatives won in 2019, the omens are poor. Johnson should become clearer in two weeks when voters go to the polls in two districts to replace Conservative lawmakers who resigned from Parliament in disgrace. The scale of the electoral task faced by Mr. These policies have alarmed low-tax, pro-business Tories but have yet to improve the party’s poll ratings, which trail those of Labour. Johnson’s government has adopted a mix of higher taxes and state aid for families suffering from the cost-of-living squeeze, through a windfall tax on energy companies, an idea stolen from the opposition Labour Party. “There are no policies that can square this circle.”


“There is a big schism between being the party of voters in the ‘red wall,’ who want a big state, and the party of affluent households in the south, who want a smaller state,” said Tony Travers, a professor of politics at the London School of Economics.
