Boris Johnson’s by-election losses will seep like poison slowly into the Tory bloodstream | Politics News

The fact that Boris Johnson lost twice in the election may also not cause an immediate political backlash.

Too many Tory MPs this morning have asserted themselves out of frustration and panic all at once and there is no clear mechanism by which those who want the Prime Minister to leave can reach.

However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have major consequences. And what it tells us will seep like poison into Tory’s bloodstream.

Political centerpiece: Oliver Dowden resigns as Tory president after by-election

But first there will be excuses.

Tory MPs started looking for fig leaves and those to be blamed even before that result already known.

CCHQ figures point the finger at the 148 insurgents who are demonstrating a front-line with no units left – effectively blaming Jeremy Hunt, Tom Tugendhat and the like.

There could also be an inquiry into whether it was correct to pressure former Tiverton MP Neil Parish to refuse.

Questions will be raised about how Imran Ahmad Khan became an MP.

No doubt a whole bunch of Tory MPs will repeat the mantra that Labor’s odds of winning can be greater.

But the raw stats cannot be ignored.

Wakefield is First election win for Labor since 2012fluctuating more than 12%.

Liberal Democrats’ sensational results in Tiverton and Honiton – a gap of almost 30% to the Tories – is the biggest percentage loss for the Tories at any by-election ever and one of the largest since the war.

It means that none of the Tory seats can be considered safe.

This is not a prediction of what will happen at a general election, as Lib Dem resources would be distributed much thinner in a national vote.

But it shows that last year Chesham and Amersham and North Shropshire The results were not unusual and voters in Tory’s safest seat could be persuaded to rethink backing the Conservative Party.

Perhaps more importantly – this is proof of tactical voting.

Workers lost their deposit at Tiverton because, it will appear, a lot of people turned to the Lib Dems to oust Johnson. This is not evidence of a treaty, although it has gone unnoticed. Labor MP for Exeter Ben Bradshaw appeared to encourage voters in Tiverton to support the Lib Dems.

Those are the two lessons that will provide the most thought pause for the Tories. Whether they will or can do anything about this remains to be seen.