Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to “keep going” after his leadership suffered a double blow as his ruling Conservative Party lost two crunch by-elections.
In Tiverton and Honiton, where local Conservative MP Neil Parish resigned after admitting he had watched pornography on his phone in the House of Commons, the Liberal Democrats won after a swing of almost 30 percent from the Tories, overturning a 24,000 Conservative majority.
The Liberal Democrat candidate Richard Foord, who secured a majority of 6,144, used his acceptance speech to call for Johnson “to go, and go now,” claiming his victory had “sent a shockwave through British politics.”
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said: “This should be a wake-up call for all those Conservative MPs propping up Boris Johnson. They cannot afford to ignore this result.”
He said it was “time for Conservative MPs to finally do the right thing and sack him.”
In Wakefield, where local Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan quit after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy, Thursday’s by-election resulted in a 12.7 percent swing from the Tories to Labour.
The new Labour MP Simon Lightwood, who got a majority of 4,925, said, “The people of Wakefield have spoken on behalf of the British people. They have said, unreservedly: Boris Johnson, your contempt for this country is no longer tolerated.”
‘Tough Time’
Following the results, Conservative Party co-chairman Oliver Dowden resigned, saying he and Tory supporters are “distressed and disappointed by recent events” and telling Johnson that “someone must take responsibility.”The prime minister, who is attending a Commonwealth summit in Rwanda, acknowledged on Friday that losing the two constituencies was “tough.”
Speaking to broadcasters, Boris Johnson said he would take responsibility, but insisted the cost-of-living crisis was the most important issue for voters and it is “true that, in mid-term, governments post-war lose by-elections.”
“It’s absolutely true we’ve had some tough by-election results. They’ve been, I think, a reflection of a lot of things, but we’ve got to recognise voters are going through a tough time at the moment,” he said.
“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 number one issue.
“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.”
