By-election news - live: PM loses backing of more Tory MPs after disastrous defeats
Senior Tory MP says PM’s fall from power ‘is now a question of when, not if’
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Boris Johnson’s support among Tory MPs has ebbed to an all-time low after the Conservatives suffered two crushing by-election losses on Thursday.
Following the double defeats in Tiverton and Wakefield, one senior Conservative MP, who backed Mr Johnson in the no-confidence vote earlier this month, told The Independent that they had now changed their mind.
“I voted for Boris last time but I just can’t see any way out of it for him right now,” they said.
“It is now a question of when, not if. The public have made up their minds. We got it wrong in hanging on to John Major in the nineties and we can’t get it wrong a second time with Johnson.”
The former Tory leader Michael Howard has also urged Mr Johnson to step down, while a cabinet minister admitted that “the mood has shifted”.
Their statements came after the Tory party chairman Oliver Dowden resigned, citing the “disappointment” of the public over the Partygate scandal. “Someone must take responsibility,” he said.
Helen Hurford arrives in Crediton
Helen Hurford, the Tory candidate for Tiverton and Honiton, arrived at the election count in Crediton at around 3.30am, where she is projected to lose the previously safe Conservative seat.
According to the Press Association, Ms Hurford has locked herself in the room previously reserved for media interviews at the constituency’s election count in a sports centre in Crediton.
Ms Hurford declined to answer questions from the waiting press, instead opting for a closed-door interview with Devon Live.
We’re inching closer to getting the results in both by-elections in Wakefield and Tiverton & Honiton.
Excitement is building here at the Tiverton count with the Lib Dem team expected to make an entrance in the next fifteen minutes. The Wakefield result is expected any minute and the Tiverton result is expected around 4:30am or perhaps even earlier.
The Tiverton results will be read out in alphabetical order meaning the Lib Dem candidate Richard Foord’s vote count will be announced first. This will be followed by the Tory candidate Helen Hurford’s results and then Labour’s Liz Pole.
Tories braced for trouble as votes counted in crunch by-elections
Boris Johnson faces the potential loss of two Tory seats as votes are counted in by-elections which could lead to further questions about his leadership.
Ballots were cast in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton after contests triggered by Conservative MPs resigning in disgrace.
With Labour challenging in the red wall seat in West Yorkshire and the Liberal Democrats hoping to overturn a huge Conservative majority in Devon, defeat for the Tories will heap pressure on Mr Johnson just weeks after 41% of his own MPs said they did not have confidence in him.
Mr Johnson has suggested it would be “crazy” for him to quit if the party lost the two seats, and claimed he was “very hopeful” about the results.
Read the full piece here:
Tories braced for trouble as votes counted in crunch by-elections
Boris Johnson insisted he was optimistic and it would be “crazy” for him to quit if the Tories lost both the Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton seats.
Does the PM really use his bizarre comments to manipulate search engine findings?
We all know Boris Johnson says odd things from time to time. It’s part of a carefully crafted political persona that seems to go down well with a lot of voters – at least until he starts chuntering about Peppa Pig to the Confederation of British Industry.
But this week I came across an intriguing theory that has made me completely rethink the way I look at the PM’s peculiar use of anecdotes and allusions. It comes from Gareth Morgan of Liberty Marketing Group, who used an article for Open Democracy to analyse some of Mr Johnson’s comments from a digital marketing perspective.
Read more below:
Editor’s Letter: Does the PM make odd comments to manipulate search engine findings?
This week I came across a theory that has made me completely rethink the way I look at the PM’s peculiar use of anecdotes and allusions, writes Andrew Woodcock
‘Voters are sick of Boris Johnson’
Labour MP Darren Jones said likely wins for his party in Wakefield and the Liberal Democrats in Tiverton & Honiton was a sign that voters were “sick” of Boris Johnson and the Conservatives.
Speaking from the election count in Devon, Mr Jones said: “There is a similar story between Tiverton & Honiton and Wakefield.
“Voters in the rural south west and in the north of England are sick of Boris Johnson and the Tories.
“In both by-elections the voters are sending a message to the Conservatives that enough is enough.”
Tory MP: ‘It’s very normal not to win by-elections'
Andrea Jenkyns, the Conservative MP for Morley and Outwood, has said that it is normal to see big swings against the government in by-elections.
Speaking from the count in Wakefield, Ms Jenkyns said: “We have been in government for 12 years and it’s very normal not to win by-elections.”
She denied that Boris Johnson was turning voters away and said that sending migrants to Rwanda was a bigger issue on the doorstep than Partygate.
Lib Dems say Tiverton by-election looking like a ‘clear win’ for them
The Liberal Democrats have come out fighting with a statement saying that they are expecting a “clear win” in the Tiverton and Honiton by-election.
A spokesperson has said: “This is looking like a clear win. The people of Tiverton and Honiton have spoken up for the country. This is an historic victory for the Liberal Democrats and a devastating blow for those Conservative MPs who continue to prop up Boris Johnson."
Lib Dem leader hints at a historic by-election win
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey has hinted that his party could be set for a historic by-election win in Tiverton and Honiton.
He cryptically tweeted: “Looks like I’m going to need a bigger hammer.”
Pictured: Votes are counted in the Wakefield by-election
Here’s a run down of what would be a good or bad result for the Tories
Political adviser and pollster James Johnson has put together his take on what would be a good and bad result for the Conservatives tonight.
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