Boris Johnson dealt double blow after Conservatives lose two by-elections

Boris Johnson on Friday endured a double blow as the Conservatives missing two parliamentary by-elections just months right after the key minister survived a vote of no confidence in his management.

In Tiverton and Honiton in Devon, previously represented by Tory Neil Parish who held a 24,239-vote greater part, Liberal Democrat Richard Foord defeated the Conservatives’ Helen Hurford by 6,144 votes.

In West Yorkshire, Labour regained Wakefield after Simon Lightwood defeat his Conservative rival Nadeem Ahmed. Lightwood gained 13,166 votes, elevating the party’s share of the vote by a lot more than 8 share points in contrast with the 2019 basic election. Ahmed, in second put, attracted 8,241 votes as the Tory share of the vote fell by 17 share factors.

The by-elections in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton had been activated by the resignation of disgraced Tory MPs following months of negative headlines for the primary minister and his govt on a range of troubles from the “partygate scandal” to the expense of dwelling disaster.

The by-election effects prompted the resignation of Oliver Dowden, the Conservative occasion chair, who stated the Tories could not “carry on with company as usual”.

“Somebody will have to take duty and I have concluded that, in these circumstances, it would not be proper for me to continue to be in business office,” he stated in a letter to Johnson printed on Twitter on Friday morning.

The Conservatives received Wakefield in 2019 for the initially time given that 1931. But Imran Ahmad Khan, stepped down as the Tory MP in April yr after he was discovered guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-yr-previous boy in 2008.

Sir Keir Starmer, Labour chief, reported the outcome proved that the “country has lost assurance in the Tories. This consequence is a obvious judgment on a Conservative occasion that has run out of strength and concepts.”

Lib Dem chief Sir Ed Davey said that his party’s get in Tiverton and Honiton ought to be a “wake-up call” for Tory MPs. “They can not afford to ignore this consequence,” he said. “The public is ill of Boris Johnson’s lies and lawbreaking and it is time for Conservative MPs to lastly do the appropriate issue and sack him.”

On Thursday, Johnson brushed off ideas that he should action down if the Tories missing both of those by-elections. “Are you outrageous?” the key minister questioned. “Governing parties normally do not get by-elections, particularly not in midterm.”

Johnson, who narrowly gained a assurance vote amongst Tory MPs by 211 votes to 148 this month, has tried to steer his premiership again on training course by means of a collection of eye-catching policy proposals aimed at wooing Tory voters.

But the decline of Tiverton and Honiton, which had been held by the Conservatives because its development in 1997, will stoke larger concern among Tory MPs in the south of England fearful of a Lib Dem resurgence in “blue wall” seats.

The constituency also turned vacant in April when Parish stood down soon after admitting that he had viewed pornography on his cell cell phone in the Dwelling of Commons chamber.