Boris Johnson, 'the man who always gets away with it' wins no-confidence vote

Boris Johnson, who was once described as a "greased piglet", has an uncanny knack of wriggling free from politically perilous situations -- usually of his own making, and he has done it yet again. He won a no-confidence vote triggered by his Conservative MPs and will stay on as the leader of his party. 

The conservative politician who won the 2019 elections in a sweeping victory faced growing pressure after news of his alcohol-fueled parties during the Covid pandemic lockdowns hit the headlines. The so-called partygate scandal invited disquiet within the conservative party itself, with 54 Tory MPs withdrawing support to Johnson. Following this, he underwent a nail-biting, no-confidence vote.

Johnson, needed the backing of 180 MPs to survive the vote. While 211 Tory MPs backed him, 148 did not. 

Born on June 19th, 1964, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson or Boris Johnson started his career in 1987 working as a journalist with the Times. However, he was fired from there for inventing a quote by historian Colin Lucas. 

After Times, he worked at the Telegraph, covering Europe. Here too he faced criticism, this time by fellow journalists who accused him of writing lies, and making up stories to discredit the European Commission.

In 1999 he joined the Spectator as the editor, where he faced more controversies. 

In November 2001, Boris Johnson was forced to resign from the position of shadow minister for arts over allegations of an extramarital affair with Petronella Wyatt, a fellow journalist.

In July 2007, Johnson resigned from his post as the shadow education secretary and stood as a conservative candidate for Mayorship. He successfully defeated the incumbent Ken Livingston and became the Mayor of London.

In this, he forged a strong political identity, often criticising his own party. He served as the Mayor for eight years from 2008 to 2016.

Johnson is known for his hardline Brexit stance. In February 2016, he announced that he would back the 'Vote Leave' campaign. His stand against the PM David Cameron's 'Remain' campaign was seen as highly influential. Johnson using his high profile helped swing, many undecided voters.

In June 2026, Britain chose to leave the EU by a majority of 52 per cent votes.

Following Brexit Prime Minister David Cameron resigned. It was expected that Boris Johnson would be leading the conservative party campaign. However, Michael Gove, a fellow Vote Leave campaigner decided to stand, following which Johnson decided to stand down. 

Finally, Theresa May was chosen as the party leader and after her win, Johnson was made the foreign secretary.

In 2019, Johnson won the PM contest for his conservative party by a large majority of 43 per cent.

In 2020, as the world battled the COVID-19 virus, the UK government in response to the threat ordered a lockdown in March.

In 2021 details began emerging of unauthorised parties taking place at 10 Downing Street, even as the country remained under lockdown. Initially, Johnson denied having broken rules, but soon more details emerged. The PM's former chief of staff Dominic Cumming proved instrumental in leaking details of the party.

Due to this scandal, he is facing the ongoing confidence vote after several lawmakers from his Governing conservative party questioned his authority.