North Shropshire byelection: Liberal Democrats win former safe Tory seat in blow to Johnson

[brooklynite]

The Guardian

The Liberal Democrats have won a stunning victory in the North Shropshire byelection, taking what had previously been a safe Conservative seat by a margin of nearly 6,000 votes, and capping a disastrous few weeks for Boris Johnson.

Helen Morgan, the Lib Dem candidate, won 17,957 votes, ahead of the Conservatives’ Neil Shastri-Hurst, on 12,032, a majority of 5,925. Labour’s Ben Wood was third, with 3,686 votes. Turnout was 46.3%.

The calamitous collapse in Conservative support – a 34% swing in a seat where they had a near-23,000 majority in 2019 – will prompt significant jitters among many Tory MPs, and is likely to raise questions about Johnson’s future.

It was a swing even greater than the 25% seen last June when the Lib Dems won the Chesham and Amersham byelection.

[Sanity Claws]

1. Rise of a third-party

Conservatives have been in power so long because Labour Party was so pathetic. Now people have another party to choose from.