By-election result shows Reform UK could cause Tories even more pain

There’s even worse news for the Conservative Party in the juicy detail of this week’s by-election results, says Sean O’Grady

Labour’s winning candidate Alistair Strathern will replace Nadine Dorries as MP for Mid Bedfordshire (AFP via Getty)

With all the focus on Labour’s historic and record-breaking by-election victories in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth, some of the interesting details in the results have been overlooked.

One is the performance of Reform UK – often known as the Reform Party, and formerly the Brexit Party, which in turn carried over much of the Ukip vote. In Tamworth it scored its second-best result in this parliament, saving its deposit, and in both seats the Reform UK vote exceeded Labour’s majority. As its former leader and current party president Nigel Farage thinks aloud about becoming Tory leader by 2026, the machinations on the hard right of British politics are intriguing...

Did Reform UK rob the Tories of two crucial morale-boosting victories?