Johnson Survives No-Confidence Vote; Pound Unchanged
2022.06.06 23:25
By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com — The pound was unchanged Monday after U.K. Prime Minister survived a vote of confidence in his leadership of the Conservative Party by 211 to 148.
GBP/USD was up 0.36% to $1.2529.
After securing about 59% of the total vote, Johnson is safe against a leadership challenge for another year. The slender margin of Johnson’s victory, however, demonstrates that there are many within the Conservative rank who are gunning for the prime minister’s exit, dealing a blow to his authority.
This leaves the prime minister in a vulnerable position. Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May had survived a confidence vote in December 2018, by a larger margin of about 63%, but was soon forced out after a few months as Conservative, or ‘Tory,’ lawmakers threatened to launch a new vote.
The vote arrived after at least 54 of Tory lawmakers submitted letters to initiate an emergency no-confidence vote in the prime minister’s leadership.
Johnson has come under intense scrutiny after becoming the first British prime minister in history to have broken the law while in office. Earlier this year, Johnson was found guilty of breaking his own Covid-19 lockdown rules.
In recent local elections, Johnson’s Conservative ceded political ground to Labour, the main opposition party. There are fears that the ruling Conservative government will face further setbacks in the coming local elections amid spiraling food and energy costs.
