Are his MPs turning against him?
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will “listen” to voters but will “keep going” after Thursday night’s historic by-election defeats.
Overnight, the Tories suffered a devastating double election defeat, just weeks after 41% of the prime minister’s own MPs voted no confidence in his leadership.
It represents the first double by-election loss for any Government in 30 years.
“I’ve got to listen to what people are saying,” Johnson wrote in a statement. “In particular to the difficulties people are facing over cost of living. We’ve got to recognise there is more we can do and we certainly will”.
It comes as backbench Conservative MPs appeared to break ranks and support their colleague Oliver Dowden, who resigned on Friday morning saying someone “must take responsibility” for the poor results.
Writing in a letter to the prime minister, Dowden said he shared the feelings of Tory supporters who were “distressed and disappointment by recent events” and the tories “cannot carry on with business as usual”.
Rallying to support him, several Tories posted messages of support on Twitter – arguing he was not to blame for the poor results.
https://twitter.com/AJRichardsonMP/status/1540206420599218177?s=20&t=ww1N9UU2RElACDjmJXReOQ
Thursday night’s crushing result led to the resignation of Conservative party chairman Oliver Dowden, who quit after acknowledging their supporters were “distressed and disappointment by recent events” and the tories “cannot carry on with business as usual”.
In Tiverton and Honiton, the Liberal Democrats swept to victory after overturning an historic 24,000 votes. The almost 30% swing is the largest percentage loss for the Tories at any and all by-elections.
Meanwhile in Wakefield, Labour secured their first by-election win since 2012 with a swing of more than 12%.
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