Boris Johnson faced a double hammer blow to his authority after the Conservatives lost the Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton by-elections that night, prompting Oliver Dowden, the party’s chairman, to resign.
Labor took Wakefield, while the Liberal Democrats overturned a majority of more than 24,000 to seize Tiverton and Honiton.
The result of Tiverton and Honiton, in which Liberal Democrat candidate Richard Ford defeated Helen Herford of the Tories by 6,144 votes to take a constituency that has been conservative in its various forms for more than a century, is thought to be the largest. majority ever revoked in the by-elections.
Labor candidate Simon Lightwood has been declared the winner of the by-elections in Wakefield. Photo: Ian Forsyth / Getty Images
Labor’s victory in Wakefield was more anticipated, given that Labor consistently took the seat before the 2019 election, but a 4925 majority for Simon Lightwood vs. Conservative Nadezhda Ahmed is a major impetus for Keira Starmer in the battle for recovery. the places in the red wall.
Johnson is in Rwanda for the British Government summit before traveling to the G7 and NATO summits in Germany and Spain, which will keep him out of the country next week. But in his absence, a double loss could cause Tory players to try to resume efforts to remove him.
Speaking to TV operators in Kigali, Johnson said the results were the result of “many things”, including pressure on the cost of living, and promised to continue.
“We have to admit that there is still work to be done and we will certainly do it, we will continue to address people’s concerns until we get through this patch,” he said.
In a letter to Johnson, Dowden said the by-elections were “the last in a series of very bad results for our party”, adding: “Our supporters are concerned and disappointed by the recent events and I share their feelings.
“We can’t go on with our usual business. Someone has to take responsibility, and I have come to the conclusion that in these circumstances it would not be right to stay in office.
Sir Jeffrey Clifton-Brown, a veteran MP who has been in the executive branch of the Tories Committee since 1922, said colleagues may need to “take steps to have a new prime minister”.
He said: “I will consider what my members say, then I will discuss this issue extensively with my colleagues. We will hear what the Prime Minister will say and then we will have to make some difficult decisions, no doubt.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davy said the result of Tiverton and Honiton meant it was time for Tory MPs to “finally do the right thing” and overthrow the prime minister.
He said: “This should be a wake-up call for all those Conservative MPs who support Boris Johnson. They cannot afford to ignore this result. “
Keir Starmer said Wakefield’s victory showed the country had “lost confidence in the Tories”. “This result is a clear assessment of a conservative party that has run out of energy and ideas,” he said.
After Johnson won a no-confidence vote following controversy over Downing Street parties that violated the blockade, party rules mean he is officially safe from such a challenge for a year. However, these rules can be changed.
The results arrived in less than ten minutes from each other, on both sides at 4 p.m. Wakefield came first, where Lightwood won easily, securing 13,166 votes, against 8,241 for Ahmed, a 12% difference from Labor.
Labor supporters at the Earl of Wakefield. Photo: Ian Forsyth / Getty Images
In Tiverton and Honiton, Fourd saw a 30 percent turnout for the Liberal Democrats, gaining 22,537 votes to 16,393 for Herford.
The Tory candidate, who endured an sometimes difficult campaign, locked herself in a room set aside for media interviews in West Devon County, reportedly refusing to speak to the press.
In his victory speech, Ford thanked voters in the constituency, including Labor supporters who, he said, “borrowed” their support to help him win.
The scale of the tactical vote, in which Labor won 1,562 votes in Tiverton and Honiton, while the Liberal Democrat candidate in Wakefield received only 508, will further worry Conservative officials and MPs.
The by-elections were convened after the respective deputies resigned in disgrace. Imran Ahmad Khan retired to Wakefield after being convicted of sexually assaulting a teenager, while Neil Parish left in Tiverton and Honiton after watching pornography in the City Hall.
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The result is another landmark for the Liberal Democrats, who took a similar Brexit-oriented Brexit seat of the Tories in North Shropshire in the December midterm elections, reversing the Tory majority of nearly 23,000 to win after former MP Owen Patterson left due to lobbying scandal.
This was followed by a victory for the Liberal Democrats last June in Chesham and Amersham, a constituency in north-west London, which raised concerns among Tory MPs that dozens of such blue-wall seats could fall amid widespread hostility to Johnson is among the more liberal-minded conservative voters.
The feeling that Johnson is no longer an electoral asset, along with the parties, could lead Tory MPs to turn decisively against the prime minister, although a new challenge is unlikely before the autumn.
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