UK’s ruling party loses vote in Conservative bastion in latest blow to Boris Johnson

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party has lost a parliamentary seat to Liberal Democrats in a constituency that has been held by the Tories for the last 200 years.

In a by-election held on Thursday, Liberal Democrat Helen Morgan overturned a Conservative majority of almost 23,000 votes from the last election to win the contest for North Shropshire electorate, on a turnout of over 46 percent.

The Lib Dem candidate won 17,957 votes, followed by the Conservatives’ Neil Shastri-Hurst with 12,032, and Labour’s Ben Wood at a distant third on 3,686. Prior to this, Conservatives had won every previous election since the constituency was created in 1983.

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of former minister Owen Paterson, after a scandal in which the Tories attempted to block his 30-day suspension for breaking lobbying rules.

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In her victory speech on Friday, Morgan said, “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.’”

Thursday’s by-election was widely seen as a referendum on Johnson’s government amid weeks of scandal and surging COVID-19 infections. His authority has been dented in recent weeks by the revelation that his party members had joined a Christmas party last year as Britons lost loved ones due to the spread of the coronavirus.

“Instead of taking action to support Shropshire’s farmers, you spend your time misleading the nation on how you and your office partied during lockdown,” Morgan said during her victory speech Friday, referring directly to Johnson. “Tonight, the people of North Shropshire have said enough is enough. They have said that you are unfit to lead and that they want a change.”

“Your government, run on lies and bluster, will be held accountable. It can and will be defeated,” she vowed.

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In spite of the fact that North Shropshire was a staunchly Conservative area, the scale of the Lib Dems’ victory in Thursday’s election is considered as an evidence of deep public dissatisfaction with the ruling party.

“I think they wanted to send us a message and I want to say, as chairman of the Conservative Party: we’ve heard that loud and clear,” said Johnson’s party Chairman Oliver Dowden, adding that the voters had given the Conservatives “a kicking” because they were fed up.

Tory MP Roger Gale said the defeat reflects “the very real anger” felt by the electorate toward the leading party. “The prime minister now has the Christmas recess to re-group. Nobody wants a leadership challenge in the middle of the pandemic but one more strike and he’s out.”

Candidate Neil Shastri-Hurst, who contested the seat for the Conservatives, described the failure as “deeply disappointing” for his party.

Conservative MPs are losing their confidence in their leader with the recent consecutive fiascos. The stunning defeat in the by-election will likely see more MPs filing letters of no-confidence Johnson, which could trigger an internal party vote to remove the prime minister.

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