Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a confidence vote on Monday called by rebel lawmakers in his Conservative Party who are angry over the involvement of Johnson and his staff in parties when Britain was under COVID-19 lockdowns.
Following is a summary of reactions to the announcement that 211 Conservative members of parliament (MPs) backed Johnson and 148 voted for him to be ousted as party leader.
PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON
"I think this is a very good result for politics and for the country. I think it's a convincing result, a decisive result and what it means is that, as a government, we can move on and focus on the stuff that I think really matters to people."
"Of course, I understand that what we need to do now is come together as a government, as a party, and that is exactly what we can now do."
OPPOSITION LABOUR PARTY LEADER KEIR STARMER
"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."
SCOTLAND'S PRO-INDEPENDENCE FIRST MINISTER NICOLA STURGEON
"That result is surely the worst of all worlds for the Tories. But much more importantly: at a time of huge challenge, it saddles the UK with an utterly lame duck PM. And for Scotland, it just underlines the democratic deficit - only 2 of (Scotland's) 59 MPs have confidence in the PM."
CONSERVATIVE MP JAMES CLEVERLY, A JUNIOR FOREIGN MINISTER
"It was a comfortable win. It was a clear win. If there are any other candidate who thinks they are going to get 60% of the parliamentary party rallying around them, good luck with that. Ultimately, we want the party to work together. Everyone should respect democracy and get on with it. The party needs to pull together, support the government, support the PM, support the country."
PAUL DALES, CHIEF UK ECONOMIST, CAPITAL ECONOMICS
"The implications for the economy and the financial markets are not as big as after (former Prime Minister Theresa) May’s vote of confidence and resignation in 2019... The possible implications for the pound and the economy are smaller by comparison. Even so, Johnson (and Rishi Sunak assuming he remains Chancellor) may respond to this near-miss by trying to shore up his political support by taking a hard line in the negotiations of the Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol and loosening fiscal policy further to help households through the cost of living crisis. Both would add to the current inflationary pressure... That would put yet more onus on the Bank of England to continue raising interest rates."
EDWARD MOYA, SENIOR MARKET ANALYST, OANDA, NEW YORK
"This rebellion against PM Johnson was larger than expected and may have weakened his position on delivering tax cuts. The British pound held onto some of its gains as traders only cared ... if this confidence vote would lead to a change in leadership. The path for the pound will still be determined by the pace of tightening by the Bank of England."
(Additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York; Editing by William Schomberg and Alistair Smout)
