LONDON’s stock market nudged higher today after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived a vote of no confidence from his own Conservative MPs, while eurozone indices dropped. 

The FTSE 100 index rose 0.1% to 7,613.76 points after Johnson’s victory late yesterday. 

The pound – seen as a better indicator of the United Kingdom’s economic health and political stability – dropped versus the dollar and euro. 

“Although the leader came out victorious, the triggering of the confidence vote itself along with the fact that 41% of Tory MPs failed to back him are both politically corrosive, leaving the prime minister wounded,” noted Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor. 

“History suggests that this could mark the beginning of the end of his time as prime minister.” 

In eurozone equities trading, Frankfurt’s DAX index opened with a loss of 0.5% at 14,574.34 points and the Paris CAC 40 shed 0.5% to 6,519.03. 

The vote on Johnson was brought after a string of scandals that have left the Tory party’s standing in tatters. 

Chief among them was the “partygate” controversy over Covid-19 lockdown-breaking events at Downing Street that caused public outrage and saw him become the first serving UK prime minister to have broken the law. 

The government is under pressure also over its handling of a cost of living crisis in the UK after the country’s inflation rate soared to the highest level in four decades. – AFP, June 7, 2022.