British Tories lose ‘safe’ seat, defeat Boris Johnson

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Conservative Party suffered an electoral defeat on Friday in a region it has represented for more than a century, dealing a second blow to Prime Minister Boris Johnson amid a week of political unrest that has shaken its leaders.

In a competition Thursday to select a new Member of Parliament for North Shropshire, an area close to the Wales border in north-west London, voters abandoned the Conservative Party in favor of the Liberal Democrats from the center in one of the biggest voting interruptions of recent times. year.

Winning Liberal Democrat candidate Helen Morgan overturned the nearly 23,000 majority won by former Tory MP Owen Patterson in the last general election of 2019. Patterson, the former cabinet minister who has held the seat since 1997, has resigned last month. violation of lobbying rules despite Johnson’s unsuccessful attempt to save him.

defeat follows Tuesday rebellion About 100 Johnson lawmakers have refused to back government plans to control the rapid spread of the coronavirus variant, Omicron. In addition to embarrassing Johnson, the rebellion forced him to rely on the support of the opposition Labor Party to push through the measures, thereby draining his power.

When the results were announced in North Shropshire on Friday, Ms Morgan had 17,957 votes; Neil Shastri Hearst, curator, received 12,032; Ben Wood, for work, received 3,686. Vote Thursday’s election count took place overnight.

“Tonight the people of North Shropshire have spoken on behalf of the British people”, Mrs Morgan said after her victory. “They said loud and clear, Boris Johnson, the party is over.”

She added that voters had decided Johnson was “unfit to lead and they wanted change.” She thanked Labor supporters who voted, saying: “Together we show that we can defeat the Tories not with business behind closed doors, but with common sense at the polls.”

While the Liberal Democrats expected a surprise victory, the size of their majority was impressive and unexpected. Ed Davey, party leader, called the result a “watershed moment,” adding in a statement: “Millions of people are fed up with Boris Johnson and his inability to lead during the pandemic and last night voters stood by. are expressed in North Shropshire on behalf of all of them. “

Even before losing his seat, there was speculation that Johnson could face a formal challenge to his leadership just over two years after his landslide victory in the December 2019 general election.

To initiate a vote of no confidence, 54 of its lawmakers will have to write to Graham Brady, the chair of the committee representing members of the Conservative Party. These messages are confidential, but analysts don’t think the possibility is near. Parliament is now on recess, giving Johnson some political breathing space.

However, Friday’s result is likely to exacerbate tensions in Downing Street, as North Shropshire was one of the Conservative Party’s safest seats in an area of ​​Britain that has backed Brexit, the defining political project by Johnson.

Despite their pro-European stance, the Liberal Democrats – who fell far behind Labor in North Shropshire in the 2019 general election – successfully presented themselves as the only credible Conservative Party candidate in the constituency.

In doing so, they appear to have persuaded a large number of Labor voters to turn to them to defeat the Tories. Earlier this year, the Liberal Democrats They caused another trouble when they won another Johnson party seat In the affluent districts of Shesham and Amersham, in North West London.

To some extent, the circumstances of Patterson’s resignation have always made it difficult to defend the North Shropshire seat in favor of the Conservative Party. But critics say Johnson was the main architect of this situation, with his unsuccessful efforts to save Patterson last month.

Johnson has since been affected by allegations his team hosted Christmas parties in Downing Street last year, at a time when they were banned by restrictions on coronaviruses.

Cabinet Secretary Simon Case is investigating the allegations and his report is expected shortly. Mr Johnson also faces the question of whether he misled his moral advisor about what he knows about the funding source for a costly renovation of his Downing Street apartment.

In recent weeks, Labor has led the Tories in several opinion polls that have also seen a drop in Johnson’s approval ratings. Political analysts have said this could put the prime minister in a vulnerable position, given the transactional nature of his party.

“The Conservative Party is a cruel machine to win an election,” said Jonathan Powell, former chief of staff to Prime Minister Tony Blair. “If this continues in an election cycle, the party will get rid of it quickly.

But while the political climate remains volatile, most voters are likely to be more concerned about the impact of the Omicron variable as they prepare for the holiday season.

Johnson has placed his hopes for political recovery in the early launch of coronavirus booster vaccines. Earlier this year, her luck returned when Britain’s first vaccination efforts proved swift and successful, allowing the country to lift all restrictions in July.

Speaking ahead of the North Shropshire result, Matthew Goodwin, professor of politics at the University of Kent, said Johnson could bounce back but could also risk handing the next election to Labor because of his mistakes.

Professor Goodwin said: “I don’t think it’s over for Johnson, I think it can be salvaged.” “But Johnson has stepped into this area where the opposition doesn’t necessarily win elections because governments end up losing,” he added.

Johnson was chosen to lead his party in 2019 because of his record of electoral victories and because he pledged to secure Britain’s exit from the European Union.

Professor Goodwin said his position could now be weakened if it were to be seen as the party’s electoral responsibility, adding that there was a perception among Tory lawmakers that Johnson “has no philosophical and intellectual project behind his Prime Minister”.