Boris Johnson wins vote but suffers large Tory rebellion

The PM won 59% of the vote, meaning he is now immune from a Conservative leadership challenge for a year.

In all, 211 Tory MPs voted they had confidence in the PM's leadership while 148 voted against him.

Mr Johnson described his confidence vote win as "decisive".

Striking an upbeat tone, he said it was a "very good", "convincing" result and "an opportunity to put behind us all the stuff that the media goes on about".

The result sees the prime minister remain in office, but critics said the scale of the rebellion against him showed his authority had been weakened, with some calling on him to resign.

The vote share in support of Mr Johnson was lower than the 63% received by former Prime Minister Theresa May when she won a party confidence vote in 2018, before resigning six months later over a Brexit deadlock.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said a "divided" Conservative Party was "propping up" Mr Johnson after he survived the confidence vote.

And Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said while Mr Johnson had clung on to power, "his reputation is in tatters and his authority is now totally shot".

But Downing Street said the result "renews the PM's mandate" and allows the government to "focus relentlessly on the issues that concern our voters".

Tory MP and Welsh Secretary Simon Hart told the BBC the prime minister "has lots to prove" but insisted the result "was pretty decisive".

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