London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

UK's Boris Johnson Stares At Bypoll Disaster In Party Stronghold

UK's Boris Johnson Stares At Bypoll Disaster In Party Stronghold

Defeat would be a disaster for the Conservatives, who won the seat by a massive majority in 2019, and would intensify the mutinous mood among Boris Johnson's party's MPs.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday faced questions about his leadership after weeks of controversy culminated in a crushing by-election defeat in a constituency never previously lost by his Conservative Party.

His ruling Tories had held the seat in North Shropshire, central England, by a massive majority just two years ago, but saw that wiped out by the Liberal Democrats in a vote on Thursday, a historic defeat set to intensify the mutinous mood among Conservative MPs.

Johnson, 57, was already reeling from a series of scandals amd setbacks and around 100 of his lawmakers rebelled in parliament Tuesday against the government's introduction of vaccine passes for large events.

The UK leader's authority has also been hit repeatedly in recent weeks by claims of corruption and reports that he and his staff broke coronavirus restrictions last Christmas, while a new surge in Omicron cases have added to a sense of crisis.

The government reported nearly 89,000 new infections Thursday, the second consecutive record daily tally.

The Tories lose the safe rural seat, won by 23,000 votes in 2019, by almost 6,000 votes, as the Lib Dems mustered a swing of 34 percentage points -- the seventh biggest in by-election history.

"The people of North Shropshire have spoken on behalf of the British people," winning candidate Helen Morgan said in her victory speech.

"They have said loudly and clearly: 'Boris Johnson, the party is over'.

"Your government, run on lies and bluster, will be held accountable. It will be scrutinised, it will be challenged and it can and will be defeated."

'They gave us a kicking'


The shattering defeat drew an immediate backlash from some Tory MPs and predictions that letters of no-confidence in their leader could be dispatched to trigger an internal party vote to remove him.

The same process saw his predecessor Theresa May ousted in mid-2019 after MPs, including Johnson, voted against her Brexit deal in parliament.

"The Conservative Party has a reputation for not taking prisoners. If the prime minister fails, the prime minister goes," long-serving lawmaker Roger Gale told BBC Radio.

"Mr Johnson has to prove that he's capable of being a good prime minister and at the moment it's quite clear that the public don't think that that's the case."

However, others cautioned that surging Covid infections could buy the prime minister time to turn around his fortunes.

"It doesn't meant the end, and it certainly doesn't mean leadership challenges," said Charles Walker, the vice-chairman of the party's 1922 Committee which collates no-confidence letters and manages any leadership contest.

"The Conservative Party is not going to have a leadership challenge as we are heading into potential further restrictions around Covid, and difficulties around Covid."

Party chairman Oliver Dowden, also a government minister without portfolio, said North Shropshire's voters were "fed up and they gave us a kicking" but that "we've heard that loud and clear".

"The prime minister is an electoral asset for the Conservative Party," he insisted to Sky News.

"On the big calls, (he) has the vision and the direction to get us through this difficult period."

'Voted tactically'


The atmosphere before the North Shropshire vote was a far cry from May, when the Conservatives swept to their own unprecedented by-election victory in the northeast England seat of Hartlepool on the back of a successful vaccine rollout.

But the virus is once again dominating British life and the arrival of the Omicron variant has again deepened the gloom before Christmas, just when the prime minister's authority has been weakened.

Britain is also suffering spiralling inflation as a result of big borrowing during lockdowns, high energy prices and bottlenecked supply chains. Tax rises also loom from next April.

Johnson -- who won voters' overwhelming backing in 2019 on his promise to "Get Brexit Done" -- has been dogged by controversies since early last month.

It began with his unsuccessful attempt to change parliament's disciplinary rules to spare North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson a suspension after he was found to have breached lobbying rules.

Paterson, who had held the seat since 1997, then quit, forcing Thursday's vote.

That crisis, though, was soon eclipsed by reports that Johnson and his staff broke Covid rules last year by holding several parties around Christmas -- just as the public were told to cancel their festive plans.

The Lib Dems appeared to have been helped Thursday by supporters of the main opposition Labour party lending them their votes, in a bid to wrestle the seat from the Tories.

"I'm sure there were lots of Labour voters who voted tactically," jubilant Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said.

"That's just what voters want to do -- it's their democracy."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×