Fri 17 December 2021:
Following weeks of scandal and rising COVID-19 infections, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party has suffered a stunning defeat in a parliamentary by-election that is being viewed as a referendum on his government.
Helen Morgan, a centrist who represents England’s third largest party in North Shropshire, , overturned a Conservative majority of almost 23,000 votes from the last election to win Thursday’s contest.
Since the constituency’s current form was created in 1983, the Conservatives had won every previous election in the mostly rural area of central England. According to the BBC, the seat has existed in some form since the 1830s and has always been held by a Conservative.
“Tonight, the people of North Shropshire have spoken on behalf of the British people. They have said loudly and clearly: ‘Boris Johnson, the party is over’,” Morgan said in her victory speech.
After a former Conservative member of Parliament resigned amid a corruption scandal, the election was called.
The result, which Conservative candidate Neil Shastri-Hurst described as “deeply disappointing,” will heap pressure on Johnson just two years after he was re-elected with a seemingly unassailable 80-seat majority in the Parliament.
However, allegations that he and his staff attended Christmas parties last year while the country was on lockdown, efforts to shield an ally from allegations of illegal lobbying, and allegations that he improperly accepted donations to fund a lavish refurbishment of his official residence have all harmed his authority in recent weeks.
In this context, supporters and critics alike are questioning Johnson’s handling of the pandemic, as coronavirus infections hit new highs this week as the highly transmissible Omicron variant swept the UK.
By-elections are frequently used by voters to punish the ruling party, but the Liberal Democrats’ victory will be seen as evidence of widespread public discontent.
After a comprehensive 2019 election victory based on a promise to “Get Brexit Done,” Johnson still holds a large majority of seats in Parliament. His promise to “Get Brexit Done” united traditional right-leaning Conservative voters with swaths of new supporters.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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