The UK’s local elections are showing initial results that the Conservative Prime Minister’s party is suffering some symbolic losses. The Partygate affair could have a stronger impact than he had hoped.
According to the first results, the local elections in Great Britain are clearly showing serious losses for the Conservatives. According to reports in the British media, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s party lost its dominance in previous strongholds to the opposition Labor Party. This included the London districts of Westminster in the center of the capital and Wandsworth, which had been firmly in their hands for decades. These would be losses of great symbolic value for Johnson’s party.
In view of the first results, Labor Party leader Keir Starmer spoke this morning of a turning point for his party. However, it will only become clear in the course of the day whether and to what extent the Conservatives were actually punished nationwide by voters in the local elections. According to the first results, there are no such clear losses for his party outside of London. Labor appears to be doing weaker there.
The local elections are considered the first mood picture since the affair about illegal lockdown parties in the London seat of government Downing Street and other scandals. Even in the elections to the regional parliament in Northern Ireland, a clear result is not expected until the afternoon. There it is considered likely that the Irish Republican party Sinn Féin will be the strongest force for the first time.
For the Labor Party, local election victory would be the first serious glimmer of hope after many years of disgrace and loss; for Boris Johnson’s Conservatives it would be a dramatic indication that hopes are not being fulfilled that the war in Ukraine and Britain’s strong role in aid to the country under attack could unite people more closely behind the controversial prime minister. It is now becoming apparent that the affair about unauthorized celebrations at 10 Downing Street during the corona lockdown, which has become known as Partygate, could harm Johnson more than he had hoped.