In Blow to Boris Johnson, Conservative Party Loses Two Key By-Elections

The Conservative Party in the United Kingdom lost the Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton by-elections on Thursday, 23 June, and this is widely being perceived as a big blow to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's popularity.

The Labour Party won Wakefield, while the Liberal Democrats won Tiverton and Honiton.

Consequently, MP Oliver Dowden resigned as party chair of the Conservative Party.

My letter of resignation to the Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/xd5MtM2o3n

— Oliver Dowden (@OliverDowden) June 24, 2022

"We cannot carry on with business as usual. Somebody must take responsibility and I have concluded that, in these circumstances, it would not be right for me to remain in office," he wrote in his letter to the prime minister.

Prime Minister Johnson is in Rwanda for the Commonwealth heads of state summit, before travelling to the G7 and NATO summits in Germany and Spain, respectively.

He recently survived a no-confidence vote against him over "Partygate", but given his current absence, the double blow could push the "backbenchers" of his party to rejuvenate efforts to throw him out.

"This should be a wake-up call for all those Conservative MPs propping up Boris Johnson. They cannot afford to ignore this result," Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

(With inputs from BBC and The Guardian.)