UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has narrowly survived a vote of no confidence, but 148 of 359 UK Conservative MPs — about 41.2% — voted against him.

REACTION:

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “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 59 (Scottish) MPs have confidence in the PM.”

UK Labour Leader Keir Starmer tweeted: “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.”

Rory Stewart, former Tory international trade secretary, tweeted: “Remove the ‘payroll’ vote – and look at the free vote from backbenchers.

“Almost 75% of all Tory MPs not dependent on his patronage voted against him. This is the end for Boris Johnson. The only question is how long the agony is prolonged.”

Boris Johnson: “I think it’s a convincing result, a decisive result. What it means is that, as a government, we can move on and focus on the stuff that really matters to people.”

UK Foreign Office minister James Cleverly: “I think the country would rightly be very upset if we as a party decided to ignore what the wider party said when they elected him leader, what the country said when they made him prime minister, and what the bulk of Conservative MP have now said today.

“People have got to recognise, they didn’t get the vote of no confidence through, what they should now do is say, OK, we respect the democratic decision of the party, we’re going to support the prime minister getting on with his job.”

Roger Gale, one of the leading critics of Johnson: “Unfortunately, the issue can’t be settled like that. Over a third of the Parliamentary party has expressed no confidence in the prime minister …

“I don’t believe that he should take the party into the next general election and I think there are other elephant traps down the road — two by-elections coming up, the privileges committee report in the autumn — there are a lot of hurdles ahead and I think a prime minister of honour would look at the figures, accept the fact that he has lost the support of a significant proportion of his party and consider his position, but I don’t think he’ll do that.”

Julian Sturdy, Conservative MP for York Outer, tweeted: “The scale of the vote against the Prime Minister this evening is clear evidence that he no longer enjoys the full-hearted confidence of the parliamentary party and should consider his position.

“As someone who supported Boris Johnson in leadership election & wants to deliver the manifesto promises made at 2019 GE, it is regrettable that I had to vote against the PM but I no longer have confidence in his ability to lead us through the challenges we face as a nation.

“With a global cost of living crisis impacting family budgets and war returning to Europe, the public should not have to doubt the honesty or integrity of our Prime Minister and our Government’s focus should not be questioned.”

Alister Jack, UK Government’s Secretary of State for Scotland: “As I have been clear throughout, the prime minister has my full support.

“I voted for him tonight, and I am very pleased that he has received the backing of a clear majority of the parliamentary party.