UK's Johnson wins leadership challenge

The United Kingdom's prime minister, Boris Johnson, survived a so-called confidence vote on Monday, which means he will remain in office, at least for now.

Johnson won the vote among the 359 lawmakers from his ruling Conservative Party by 211 votes to 148.

His victory means he will not only continue as prime minister but also as leader of the Conservative Party, and will be safe from another confidence vote for at least 12 months.

However, many pundits have said the revolt from within his own party could have seriously damaged his credibility and that he could still be maneuvered from office by rebels.

Monday evening's secret ballot was triggered after the threshold of 15 percent of Conservative Party lawmakers, or 54 MPs, submitted letters to the party demanding it.

Several MPs who wanted Johnson ousted as prime minister had been angered by revelations he attended parties in Downing Street when such gatherings were prohibited under novel coronavirus lockdown rules.

A parliamentary report into the indiscretions said many of the gatherings "should not have been allowed" and Conservative Party MPs feared the scandal would harm the party at the next general election.

Following Johnson's survival, Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, wrote on social media: "The choice is clearer than ever before: Divided Tories propping up Boris Johnson with no plan to tackle the issues you are facing. Or a united Labour Party with a plan to fix the cost-of-living crisis and restore trust in politics. Labour will get Britain back on track."

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi disagreed however, saying Johnson won "handsomely".

Zahawi added: "I hope we can draw a line under this issue".