# 2022 vote of confidence in the Conservative Party leadership of Boris Johnson

On 6 June 2022, a vote of confidence was held amongst Conservative Party MPs on the prime minister, Boris Johnson's, leadership of their party. Johnson won the vote with the support of 211 Conservative members of Parliament, 58.8% of the total. Out of 359 MPs, 148 (41.2%) voted against him.
Despite this, just over a month later, on 7 July, following another scandal and mass resignations from his government, Johnson announced he would resign. He remained in the role until 6 September, when his successor Liz Truss was elected by members of the party, three months to the day from the vote.

## Background

* This article is part of a series aboutBoris Johnson
Policies
Political positions
Public image
MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip
MP for Henley
Electoral history
2008 mayoral election
2012 mayoral election
2016 EU referendum
causes
aftermath
2019 leadership election
polling
endorsements
2019 general election
2021 local elections
2022 local elections
Mayor of London
Mayoralty
2008 mayoral election
London Britannia Airport
Santander Cycles
New Routemaster
2011 riots
London Cable Car
2012 Summer Olympics
2012 Summer Paralympics
Garden Bridge
Brexit
Vote Leave
2016 explored candidacy
Dead cat strategy
Foreign Secretary
Tenure as Foreign Secretary
Yemen intervention
Zaghari-Ratcliffe case
2018 Salisbury attack
Chequers plan
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Premiership
International trips
Minister for the Union
First ministry and term
First ministry (minority)
Suspension of rebel MPs
Benn Act
2019 prorogation
Supreme Court case
Brexit deal renegotiation
revised deal
Get Brexit Done
Second ministry and term
Second ministry (majority)
departures
2020 reshuffle
2021 reshuffle
EU Withdrawal Agreement
Northern Ireland Protocol
EU trade negotiation
cooperation agreement
COVID-19 pandemic
government response
lockdown
vaccinations
contracts
contract controversies
Dominic Cummings scandal
Partygate
Evacuations from Afghanistan
Levelling up
COP26
Refurb controversy
Owen Paterson scandal
Rwanda asylum plan
Murder of David Amess
Proposed NI increase
British support for Ukraine in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Cost of living crisis
Conservative Party confidence vote
Chris Pincher scandal
Government crisis
July 2022 reshuffle
leadership election
House of Commons confidence vote
Resignation Honours
Post-premiership
2022 explored candidacy
endorsements
Privileges Committee investigation
2023 Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election
Bibliography
Friends, Voters, Countrymen
Seventy-Two Virgins
The Dream of Rome
The Churchill Factor
Unleashed
In popular culture
Greased piglet
When Boris Met Dave
Spitting Image (2020 TV series)
This England
"Vossi Bop"
"Boris Johnson Is a Fucking Cunt"
"Can't Stop Christmas"
Boris: The Rise of Boris Johnson
Boris v. Ken
Members Only (South Park)
DSP (film)
Headcases
Newzoids
Brexit: The Uncivil War
Partygate (TV drama) :
vte :
Before the vote of confidence, Johnson's administration was criticised over a number of parties that occurred at government buildings (including the prime minister's official residence at 10 Downing Street, as well as other Downing Street offices) at a time when such meetings were prohibited due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ensuing scandal, dubbed "Partygate", led to pressure on Johnson to resign as prime minister. Other controversies, such as the refurbishment of the prime minister's official apartment and accusations of corruption during the Owen Paterson scandal (where Conservative lawmakers attempted to delay Paterson's suspension for corruption), also increased pressure on Johnson to resign.
On 14 January it was reported that 30 Conservative MPs had submitted letters of no confidence (in Johnson) to the 1922 Committee. On 6 June 2022, following the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, announced that the threshold of 54 letters of no confidence had been met and that a vote of confidence would be held in the evening of the same day. According to party rules, he could not face another vote of confidence for 12 months. In line with agreed procedure, the vote was held by secret ballot.
The following Conservative MPs publicly said that they had submitted letters of no confidence in Johnson:
| # | MP | Constituency | Announced |
| 1 | Roger Gale | North Thanet | 17 December 2021 |
| – | Douglas Ross | Moray | 12 January 2022 |
| 2 | William Wragg | Hazel Grove | 20 January 2022 |
| 3 | Peter Aldous | Waveney | 1 February 2022 |
| 4 | Tobias Ellwood | Bournemouth East | 2 February 2022 |
| 5 | Anthony Mangnall | Totnes | 2 February 2022 |
| 6 | Gary Streeter | South West Devon | 2 February 2022 |
| 7 | Aaron Bell | Newcastle-under-Lyme | 4 February 2022 |
| 8 | Nick Gibb | Bognor Regis and Littlehampton | 4 February 2022 |
| 9 | Nigel Mills | Amber Valley | 13 April 2022 |
| 10 | Caroline Nokes | Romsey and Southampton North | 13 April 2022 |
| 11 | Mark Harper | Forest of Dean | 19 April 2022 |
| 12 | Steve Brine | Winchester | 25 May 2022 |
| 13 | Stephen Hammond | Wimbledon | 26 May 2022 |
| 14 | Bob Neill | Bromley and Chislehurst | 27 May 2022 |
| 15 | Anne Marie Morris | Newton Abbot | 28 May 2022 |
| 16 | Elliot Coburn | Carshalton and Wallington | 30 May 2022 |
| 17 | Andrew Bridgen | North West Leicestershire | 30 May 2022 |
| 18 | John Stevenson | Carlisle | 31 May 2022 |
| 19 | Jesse Norman | Hereford and South Herefordshire | 6 June 2022 |
* ↑ Ross announced that he had withdrawn his letter in on 10 March 2022, in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier that year.
* ↑ Marie Morris initially said that she had submitted a letter on 30 January 2022, while sitting as an independent MP after having the whip withdrawn earlier that month. She later resubmitted a letter when she had the Conservative whip restored on 28 May 2022.
* ↑ Bridgen initially said that he had submitted a letter on 13 January 2022, before announcing that he had withdrawn it on 16 March 2022 in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier that year. He later announced that he had resubmitted a letter on 30 May 2022.
At that stage, former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt was seen by bookmakers as the most likely next leader of the party, followed by incumbent Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer who had previously been seen as Johnson's most likely successor, was seen as less likely following reporting about his family's tax status and his receipt of a fine for breaking COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. A poll by the market research firm Opinium found that 59% of voters thought that Conservative MPs should vote to remove Johnson, while 28% of voters thought that they should vote to retain confidence in him. A poll by YouGov found that 42% of Conservative Party members thought that MPs should vote to remove Johnson, while 53% thought they should not. 61% of members thought that the next election would result in a Conservative-led government if Johnson remained in post, while 72% thought that a different leader would deliver a Conservative-led government.

## Result

A majority of Conservative MPs voted that they had confidence in Johnson to continue as party leader. 211 of the 359 Conservative MPs (58.8%) voted in support of Johnson and (41.2%) of MPs voted no confidence in him, which The Guardian described as "a larger than expected rebellion".
Compared to previous Conservative leaders, Johnson's 58.8% confidence level is lower than the 63% that Theresa May received in her 2019 vote of confidence, higher than the 45% that Iain Duncan Smith received in a 2003 vote, lower than the 66% that John Major received when he resigned as leader and stood again for leadership in 1995, and lower than the 84% share of the vote that Margaret Thatcher received, under the previous process where an MP had to challenge the leader in a ballot, and in which Sir Anthony Meyer challenged Thatcher in the 1989 leadership election.
Confidence vote of Boris Johnson :
| Ballot → | Ballot → | 6 June 2022 |
| | Confidence | 211 / 359 (59%) |
| | No confidence | 148 / 359 (41%) |

## Reactions

On 6 June, Johnson called the result of the vote "extremely good" and was reported to be planning a cabinet reshuffle to reward his supporters in the vote. William Hague, former leader of the Conservatives, said the votes "show a greater level of rejection than any Tory leader has ever endured and survived". Lee Anderson, a Conservative MP, said that Johnson had been the "victim of a witch hunt led by the BBC".
According to the Conservative parliamentary group's informal rules, the only other option for Conservatives to remove him from power, within the next twelve months, is for the cabinet to ask him to resign, but the Financial Times thought this was unlikely as he has selected cabinet members for their loyalty to him, and their careers depend closely on his. His Conservative opponents did not see the result as ending their campaign against Johnson, although they had no other constitutional options to challenge him within the party. Philip Dunne, former health minister and ally of Jeremy Hunt (who lost against Johnson in the 2019 party leadership election) said "this is not over".
There was discussion among Conservative MPs, including Tobias Ellwood, of changing the 1922 committee rules to allow another challenge. Johnson's predecessor, Theresa May stepped down after she was told that if she did not, the rules would be changed.
On 27 June 2022 Johnson referred to the confidence vote, in which 41.2% of the Conservative MPs voted against him, saying "I've got a new mandate from my party which I'm absolutely delighted with ... it's done".
On 30 June, Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher resigned over new and historic allegations of sexual misconduct. Johnson denied he had been made aware of the historic allegations prior to his appointment of Pincher, which emerged to be false.
One month after the vote of confidence, from 5 to 7 July 2022, 62 of the United Kingdom's 179 government ministers, parliamentary private secretaries, trade envoys, and party vice-chairmen resigned from their governmental positions, culminating in Johnson's resignation on 7 July.