Quiz of The Week: 4 - 10 June

Boris Johnson is hoping to revive his political fortunes with a blitz of policy announcements after narrowly winning a confidence vote brought against him by his own backbench MPs.

After a weekend of celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Johnson has been left clinging to his premiership after a Monday night confidence vote saw 41% of Conservative MPs vote against his leadership.

The vote exposed “deep rifts” within the Conservative parliamentary party, which is likely to pose a “continuing threat” to his authority as Johnson attempts to lead his party into the next election, said The Times.

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Johnson himself hailed the result as a “decisive” and “convincing” win, but the margin of victory is far smaller than was afforded to Theresa May in a confidence vote on her premiership in 2018 – she was forced to resign less than seven months later.

Johnson has attempted to revive his premiership with two major speeches in which he promised tax cuts and set out plans to extend the Thatcher-era Right to Buy scheme to housing association renters, as well as allow people to use housing benefits to go towards their mortgage.

But among his raft of promises to the electorate were some bitter pills to swallow, too. He argued that workers will have to settle for real-terms pay cuts to avoid 1970s-style “stagflation” and soaring interest rates, and rowed back on a manifesto promise to build 300,000 new homes by 2025.

“I can’t give a cast-iron guarantee we are going to get to a particular number [of new houses] in a particular year,” he told reporters after his keynote speech in Blackpool yesterday.

New policy announcements may not be enough to save his ailing premiership. Writing in The Daily Telegraph today, Johnson’s former Brexit minister David Frost warned he could be ousted from Downing Street by the autumn if he failed to recognise the “depth of opposition” he faces within his party.

Frost called for Johnson to set out a “10-year Conservative plan to restore the viability of the British state”, reverse controversial tax increases, and cut VAT on energy bills.

To find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the news and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week.

Need a reminder of some of the other headlines over the past seven days?

• Two Britons captured by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine have been sentenced to death by pro-Kremlin officials after a days-long trial. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has branded the sentences a “sham judgement”.
• Britain will supply Ukraine with cutting-edge M270 rocket launchers to help the country defend itself from ongoing Russian attacks, the Ministry of Defence has announced. The US will send similar weapons.
• A massive hunt was launched for journalist Dom Phillips, who has gone missing in the Amazon rainforest days after reportedly receiving death threats.
• The UK could face the biggest rail strike in modern history as more than 40,000 staff from Network Rail and 13 train operators plan industrial action in June.
• The cost of filling an average family car with petrol has hit £100 on what the RAC described as a “truly dark day” for motorists.