UK PM Johnson survives confidence vote
London, Jun 7 (PTI) Embattled British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has narrowly survived a vote of confidence by his fellow Conservative Party lawmakers against his leadership, a ballot that has left his authority weakened and exposed rifts within his party.
Some 211 MPs voted for the prime minister, compared to 148 votes against - a majority of 63.
The vote on Monday night rounded off a frenzied day of political high drama and speculation as Johnson, 57, made personal pleas to his party backbenchers to keep their faith in him as Prime Minister, despite the bruising partygate scandal of COVID law-breaking parties at Downing Street and across government offices.
Johnson insisted that the result of the vote was decisively in his favour - a 58.8 per cent for versus 41.2 per cent against.
That figure led to his critics branding it as a damaging outcome for his long-term future as the party leader, while his supporters point out he has the backing of a majority of his party.
"I think this is a very good result for politics and for the country," said Johnson, in reaction to the ballot.
"Just in this sense 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. I've got a far bigger mandate from my own parliamentary colleagues for instance than I had in 2019, he declared.
The vote is held as a secret ballot, with 180 being the cut off for Johnson to win the challenge given the halfway mark of the Tory parliamentary party membership of 359 if abstentions are not taken into account.
His allies had been keen to stress that a victory in the contest, even by just one vote, would put a rest to an issue that has overshadowed the government's focus on other pressing political concerns.
"Tonight is a chance to end months of speculation and allow the government to draw a line and move on, delivering on the people's priorities," Downing Street said in a statement.
"The PM welcomes the opportunity to make his case to MPs and will remind them that when they're united and focused on the issues that matter to voters there is no more formidable political force," it said.
The ballot came as Sir Graham Brady, chair of the powerful 1922 Committee of Tory backbench MPs, declared that he had received the requisite 54 letters of no-confidence to trigger the vote.
Under the current Conservative Party rules, Johnson is now safe from a backbench challenge for at least 12 months.
But the political consensus is that he is by no means home safe, with two important by-elections looming on June 23 and a big defeat in those could be taken as a public referendum against his leadership and keep the discontent on the backbenches alive.
In many ways, the clock is still ticking on Johnson's leadership as his hold on the party has been visibly shaken.
In the case of Johnson's predecessor at Downing Street, Theresa May, a victory in a no-confidence vote back in 2018 did not prevent her forced exit a few months later to make way for him.
While backbench anger has grown since Sue Gray published her official report into lockdown parties within government offices last month, the Cabinet had largely rallied to Johnson's side including Indian-origin Chancellor and the potential frontrunner for the top job Rishi Sunak.
The PM has won the confidence vote and now it's time to move forward. Tomorrow we get back to work, growing the economy and delivering better public services," Sunak tweeted on Monday night.
Ahead of the vote, Johnson wrote to his backbenchers to drum up their support and also addressed them privately a few hours before the ballot took place.
The frontrunner in the backbench rebellion was former UK Foreign and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who had called on the party to vote for change in the secret ballot.
But for now, Johnson has been successful in holding on to his position as party leader and UK Prime Minister.
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India & Israel elevate ties to special strategic partnership, vow to soon conclude free trade deal
Jerusalem (PTI): India and Israel on Thursday elevated their "time-tested" relationship to a special strategic partnership and agreed to soon firm up a "mutually beneficial" free trade deal even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly backed the Gaza peace initiative, asserting that humanity must never become a victim of conflict.
Following talks between Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, the two sides inked a plethora of agreements to expand cooperation in areas of trade, agriculture, energy, cyberspace and digital payment.
India and Israel also vowed to expand their already close defence partnership by working towards joint development and joint production of military hardware under the framework of the transfer of technologies.
In his media statement, Modi said India's security interest is linked to peace and stability in the Middle East, adding that New Delhi fully supports the Gaza Peace Initiative.
"India's stance is clear: humanity must never become a victim of conflict. A path to peace has been created through the Gaza Peace Plan. India has fully supported these efforts," he said.
"In the future as well, we will continue dialogue and cooperation with all countries," he said.
PM Modi landed in Israel on Wednesday on a two-day visit. It is his second visit to Israel in nine years.
In his remarks, the prime minister said India and Israel have a united view that there is no place for terrorism in the world and both sides stand shoulder-to-shoulder in countering terrorism and its supporters.
"Our relationship is founded on the strong bedrock of deep trust, shared democratic values, and human sensitivities. Our bond has stood the test of every trial of time," he said.
"Today, we have taken the historic decision to elevate our time-tested partnership to the status of a 'Special Strategic Partnership'," he said.
The prime minister also announced the establishment of an India-Israel critical and emerging technologies partnership to impart a new momentum for cooperation in areas of artificial intelligence, quantum, and critical minerals. "I am pleased that an agreement has been reached for the use of UPI in Israel," he said.
The prime minister, referring to the threat of terrorism, said India and Israel will continue to confront the menace unitedly.
"India and Israel are completely clear that there is no place for terrorism in the world. In any form, in any expression, terrorism cannot be accepted," he said.
"We have stood shoulder-to-shoulder in opposing terrorism and its supporters, and we will continue to do so," he added.
India and Israel also discussed the implementation of the India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and cooperation under the framework of I2U2 (India-Israel-UAE-USA).
