The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has narrowly survived a vote of confidence by his own conservative party MPs, but the results show he has suffered a significant rebellion within the ruling party.

Johnson needed a simple majority, 180 votes or more, to continue in office.

211 Tory MPs voted in favor of the prime minister, compared to a huge 148 MPs who voted against his leadership. 

The majority of just 63 MPs means more than 40 percent of the Conservative party no longer have confidence in their leader. 

Despite the prime minister being immune from another leadership challenge for 12 months, the number of MPs who view Johnson as liability will seek to severely undermine his leadership by opposing any legislation the government tries to pass in parliament. 

Experts say it’s difficult to see Johnson staying in his capacity as UK Prime Minister when the country heads to the next general election. 

To put the vote into perspective, Johnson has suffered a bigger rebellion than his predecessor, Theresa May, when she faced her own confidence vote in 2018 amid the Brexit impasse. 

Despite his leadership severely undermined, Johnson has claimed the "convincing" and "decisive" result means the government can "move on".

The scale of the win here has given the public an idea about the vast level of rebel backbenchers who are extremely angry with their party leader. 

With a divided party, experts are asking how the British Premier can now unite the Tories and pass legislation through parliament. There may be a time frame where Johnson stays in Downing Street but lacks any real control or power.

The other question now is whether the cabinet will move against him amid pleas by MPs to end the significant prospect of an ongoing civil war in the party or as one senior Tory MP called it a “guerilla war”.

Experts say the scale of the rebellion means some government ministers and aides must have voted against Johnson in the secret ballot while remaining supportive of him publicly. 

Reports suggest that up to five members of the cabinet may have voted against Johnson, but the ballot was conducted in complete secrecy, and party members making their real position known public has clearly been a very sensitive matter. 

Johnson could be ousted like his predecessor May after she won her confidence vote or he could take the Tories down to defeat at the next general election like former Tory Premier John Major.

The leader of the main opposition Labour party, Keir Starmer denounced the Conservative MPs who he said: "ignored the British public" by voting in favor of Johnson.

Speaking to reporters, Starmer says "the Conservative Party had a decision to make. To show some backbone or to back Boris Johnson," 

"The British public are fed up. Fed up with a prime minister who promises big but never delivers. Fed up with a prime minister who has presided over a culture of lies and lawbreaking at the heart of government. Fed up with a Prime Minister who is utterly unfit for the great office he holds.”

"Conservative MPs made their choice tonight. They have ignored the British public and hitched themselves and their party firmly to Boris Johnson and all he represents.”

The Labour leader also described the last few months as "a farce" and claims that Labour will "get rid of this tired, out of touch government and get Britain back on track.” Something that remains to be seen. 

Speaking to British media, senior Tory MP Roger Gale says he “won't support” Johnson despite the confidence vote win. 

Gale says "there are a lot of hurdles ahead" and that the PM should "consider his position" following the result.

The Tory MP added that “Johnson should reflect on the fact that 148 MPs - more than four in ten - said they do not have confidence in his leadership and that he should "stand aside".

Gale who submitted both a letter of no confidence in Johnson's leadership and voted against him, says he will continue to voice his view that the PM should go.

"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 honor 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."

The confidence vote has also had major repercussions in Scotland where leading parties have seats in the British parliament at Westminster. 

The Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon has pointed out that only two of (Scotlands) 59 MPs have confidence in the prime minister, calling Johnson “an utterly lame duck” prime minister.

In a post on social media, Sturgeon said the “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 MPs have confidence in the PM.”

The SNP Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, says the position of the Scottish Conservative Party leader Douglas Ross, who confirmed he had voted for Johnson to be ousted, “is completely untenable.”

Blackford says "he has made himself look utterly ridiculous by flip-flopping over Boris Johnson's future and will have no authority or credibility if he tries to cling on."

"The UK is now stuck in limbo with a lame-duck prime minister who has lost the confidence of the public - and more than forty percent of his own MPs - and is left limping around on borrowed time while the Tory party descends into bitter division," Blackford added.

Other rebel MPs have also reinterred their calls that Johnson should not lead the party into the next election.

Julian Sturdy, who voted against Johnson, says the prime minister must consider his position despite his majority.

The MP says "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.”

"I no longer have confidence in his ability to lead us through the challenges we face as a nation."

Before the vote experts said anything between 100 and 179 votes against Johnson would be regarded as a "wounding rebellion" for the PM.

Critics say Johnson will seek to downplay the result and try to distract the nation with announcements on issues such as the Northern Ireland protocol or the war in Ukraine, but the horizon doesn’t look bright for the British Prime Minister. 

Johnson has been left clinging to his premiership after a ballot that exposed the vast rifts within his party. 

Many Conservative MPs including some of his supporters believe the attempted coup is the beginning of the end of his three-year premiership.

With so many of his party having voted against him, the PM has effectively lost his majority support in parliament and the risk of his government being paralyzed is now real. 

This critical statement of the PM by former foreign minister Jeremy Hunt and a possible contender for the conservative party leadership sums Johnson’s conundrum. 

“Today’s decision is change or lose.”