Fri 24 June 2022:

Two parliamentary by-election losses for the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom have weakened the position of embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson and forced the resignation of the party’s chairman.

According to early results released on Friday morning, Britain’s dominant Conservative Party lost two seats in the by-election held on Thursday.

Following a poor performance by the Tories, Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates respectively gained the seats for Wakefield, Tiverton, and Honiton.

Oliver Dowden, the party chairman, resigned following the election defeat in two constituencies held by his party previously.

Dowden said “the latest in a run of very poor results for our party” made him resign in a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“Our supporters are distressed and disappointed by recent events, and I share their feelings,” he said.

“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.”

“Somebody must take responsibility,” Dowden also said in his letter.

The poor result for the Conservative Party is expected to increase pressure on Johnson who survived a no-confidence vote earlier in June.

He got the support of 211 Tory MPs, with 148 voting against him in a ballot triggered by an announcement from the 1922 Committee — the Conservatives’ parliamentary group in the House of Commons.

According to party rules, such a vote cannot be triggered for a year.

‘Keep going’

Johnson is in Rwanda for a Commonwealth leaders summit and he is expected to go to the G7 summit in Germany and then to Madrid for a NATO summit.

The prime minister acknowledged on Friday that losing the former Tory stronghold of Tiverton and Honiton to the Lib Dems as well as surrendering Wakefield to Labour was “tough,” but he insisted he was pushing on, and vowed to “listen” to voters.

Conservative Party co-chairman Oliver Dowden quit, saying he and Tory supporters are “distressed and disappointed by recent events,” telling Johnson that “someone must take responsibility.”

Johnson, speaking to broadcasters 4,000 miles away in Rwanda, where he is at a Commonwealth summit, thanked Dowden for his “excellent” service in the role.

The prime minister said he would take responsibility but stressed the cost-of-living crisis was the most important thing for voters, saying 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 recognize voters are going through a tough time at the moment,” he said at a conference centre in Kigali.

“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’re now facing pressures on the cost of living, we’re seeing spikes in fuel prices, energy costs, food costs – that’s hitting people.

“We’ve got to recognize 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.”

The party’s poor performance in the May 5 local elections also raised eyebrows, leading to speculation that it may lose the next general election under his leadership. Johnson has been subject to harsh criticism for months over parties at No. 10 Downing Street during the COVID-19 lockdown.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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