Rishi Sunak has faced down a Tory rebellion that could have placed his leadership in jeopardy as his flagship Rwanda bill passed through the House of Commons.
The prime minister’s leadership risked being thrown into question after Tory rebels threatened to bring his Rwanda bill down, but the mutiny failed to materialise after an 11th-hour meeting in parliament ahead of the crunch vote.
The controversial deportation bill was passed by 320 votes to 276 late on Wednesday night - a majority of 44.
In the end, only 11 Tory MPs voted against the bill including Suella Braverman, Sir Simon Clarke, Mark Francois and Robert Jenrick.
Tory rebels decided they would end up toppling Mr Sunak if they voted against the bill and they didn’t want to “blow up the government”.
Despite winning the vote, the PM still faces a lengthy battle in the House of Lords as the government refused to say when flights to the African country might finally take off.
