Great Britain
Another defeat for Boris Johnson: Tories lose two important by-elections
Boris Johnson is losing support from voters and within his own party
© Alberto Pezzali / DPA
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party suffered heavy defeats in two by-elections. The elections were seen as a mood test for the head of government.
Things remain uncomfortable for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson: His party, the Conservative Tories, suffered heavy defeats in two by-elections: On Thursday they lost in by-elections for one each in the constituency of Tiverton and Honiton in south-west England and in the constituency of Wakefield in northern England Seat in the British House of Commons.
The defeat in Tiverton and Honiton is particularly painful: the Conservatives had held the seat for the constituency for more than a hundred years. They now lost him to the Liberal Democrats, who were 6,000 votes ahead, according to official results released early Friday morning. In Wakefield, near Leeds, the Labor Party, the country’s main opposition party, prevailed. She had a lead of nearly 5,000 votes.
Mood test for Boris Johnson
The elections were seen as a mood test for Johnson, who is under a lot of pressure because of the affair about parties at the seat of government during the corona lockdown. The Prime Minister had already declared on election day that he would not resign in the event of defeat. He was at the Commonwealth Summit in Rwanda on Thursday.
Labor leader Keir Starmer now interpreted the outcome of the wakefiled by-election as a sign that his party could also win the next national election in 2024. “Wakefield has shown that the country has lost faith in the Tories,” Starmer said. “The result is a clear verdict on a conservative party that has run out of energy and ideas.”
Two sex scandals led to by-elections
The Tiverton and Honiton by-election was made necessary because MP Neil Parish withdrew in April following complaints that he had been watching porn on his mobile phone in Parliament. The Wakefield by-election was called after MP Imran Ahmad Khan withdrew after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.
The Tories had already lost a by-election in December in the constituency of North Shropshire, which is considered a Conservative stronghold.