UK PM seeks to rally ruling party after vote

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tried to shore up his leadership on Tuesday by setting out a raft of new policies to senior ministers after he survived a vote of confidence in his leadership that revealed the scale of the threat to his position.

Johnson won the vote late on Monday by 211 votes to 148－enough to avoid having to immediately resign, but it represented a larger than expected rebellion within his Conservative Party that leaves him politically wounded. He now has to battle to win back the confidence of his colleagues and the public.

His victory means he will not only continue as prime minister but also as leader of the ruling party, and he will be safe from another confidence vote for at least 12 months.

His first challenge will be to convince his most senior allies, some of whom would have likely run to replace him if he had been forced out, that he will be able to move on from questions about his leadership.

Johnson thanked cabinet ministers for their support as he urged them to push through reforms to lower costs for consumers, businesses and government.

"We're able now to draw a line under the issues that our opponents want to talk about, and we're able to get on with talking about what I think the people in this country want us to," Johnson told his cabinet in televised remarks.

Lawmakers in Johnson's party called the confidence vote after months of scandal over lockdown-breaking parties at the heart of government and criticism of his response to an inflation-fueled surge in the cost of living.

At issue is Johnson's integrity. His opponents accuse him of being a habitual liar and he faces an investigation into whether he misled parliament in his explanations over the series of parties held in Downing Street－his office and residence－while Britons were following strict lockdown rules during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Police have fined him over one such gathering.

The front pages of British newspapers offered little comfort that the vote was, as Johnson described it in the aftermath on Monday, a decisive result that allows him to refocus on his political priorities.

The Daily Telegraph called the result a "hollow victory". The Sun tabloid declared "PM survives ...Just".

Calling the result a "Pyrrhic victory", a leader column in The Times said the narrow win left Johnson's political authority badly dented and his party even more divided.

While the rules of the Conservative Party indicate that Johnson is safe from another confidence vote for the next 12 months, they could be changed if there is enough political will to do so.

In 2018, Johnson's predecessor Theresa May won a larger percentage of a confidence vote only to resign six months later.

Agencies contributed to this story.