Europe: London stocks edge up after PM wins confidence vote

LONDON'S stock market nudged higher on Tuesday (Jun 7) 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 per cent to 7,613.76 points after Johnson's victory late on Monday.

The pound -- seen as a better indicator of UK 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 per cent 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 per cent at 14,574.34 points and the Paris CAC 40 shed 0.5 per cent 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 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