Boris Johnson visits Hartlepool following historic win in the by-election

Boris Johnson, the prime minister, has said the Conservative Party’s win in the Hartlepool by-election is a “mandate” for his administration to “continue to deliver”. Visiting the north-eastern seaside town to celebrate with new Tory MP Jill Mortimer, Mr Johnson said that the message of Thursday’s election was that voters wanted politicians to focus on their priorities, like delivering Brexit and rolling out vaccines for the coronavirus. Ms Mortimer is the first woman and Conservative to represent Hartlepool since its creation in 1974, securing more than 15,000 votes from constituents - almost double that of the Labour candidate, Paul Williams.