Boris Johnson, Tories suffer double blow in by-elections

LONDON • Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party was defeated in two parliamentary by-elections yesterday, prompting the resignation of the party's chairman and renewing speculation about the future of Britain's embattled leader.

The losses - one in the Conservatives' traditional southern heartlands and in a northern England seat won from Labour in the last election - suggest that the electoral coalition Mr Johnson brought together at the 2019 national election may be fracturing.

The centrist Liberal Democrats party won the seat of Tiverton and Honiton with a majority of over 6,000, overturning a majority of more than 24,000 that was won by the Conservatives in 2019.

The Liberal Democrats said it was the biggest ever majority to be overturned at a British parliamentary by-election, suggesting that other Conservative lawmakers may be at risk of losing their seats in the party's southern heartlands.

"Tonight, the people of Tiverton and Honiton have spoken for Britain. They've sent a loud and clear message: It's time for Boris Johnson to go, and go now," the winning Liberal Democrat candidate Richard Foord said in his victory speech.

In the separate parliamentary seat of Wakefield in northern England, the opposition Labour party also defeated the Conservatives.

Mr Johnson led the Conservatives to their biggest majority in three decades at the 2019 national election, winning praise from his party for his ability to win in traditionally Labour-voting areas in the north and central England.

However, the loss of Wakefield could indicate that his ability to win again in these areas at the next national election, expected in 2024, has been compromised too.

The chairman of the ruling Conservatives resigned after the loss, raising fresh concerns about Mr Johnson's leadership and his faltering appeal to voters.

The elections "are the latest in a run of very poor results for our party", Mr Oliver Dowden said in a letter to Mr Johnson.

"We cannot carry on with business as usual. Somebody must take responsibility, and I have concluded that, in these circumstances, it would not be right for me to remain in office," he said.

The results renewed doubts over Mr Johnson's future, just over two weeks after two in five Conservative MPs voted to oust him as leader.

The Prime Minister has faced intense pressure for months over a series of scandals related to his conduct in office, including being fined by police as part of a probe into illegal parties held in Downing Street during the pandemic.

With support for Mr Johnson's Tories slumping nationwide amid a cost-of-living crisis, rebels in his party have pointed to a series of potential hurdles as moments that could again galvanise efforts to remove him.

Their problem is that having narrowly failed to oust Mr Johnson just over two weeks ago, under party regulations the Prime Minister is safe from another vote for a year.

In reality, though, there is a view that if the rebels could show they had the numbers to remove Mr Johnson, the rules could still be changed to allow a vote.

Mr Johnson could also be effectively forced to resign if his Cabinet ministers start turning against him.

Veteran Conservative Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who sits on the backbench committee that sets party rules including on leadership confidence votes, told BBC Radio 4 that MPs now had to listen to the Premier and then "make a judgment as to whether we think that is a satisfactory explanation - or whether we should actually take steps to have a new prime minister".

Mr Johnson took in the chastening defeats. He pledged to do more to tackle a cost-of-living crisis and listen to people's concerns after the two bruising defeats in England.

"I think as a government I've got to listen to what people are saying, in particular to the difficulties people are facing over the cost of living, which I think for most people is the No. 1 issue," he told reporters in Kigali, Rwanda, where he is attending a Commonwealth meeting.

"We've got to recognise there is more we've got to do and we certainly will, we will keep going, addressing the concerns of people until we get through this patch."

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG