A blunt awakening for Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Conservative Party leader Oliver Dowden announced his resignation at 5:30 this morning. He wrote that after a by-election fails, someone must take responsibility, and resign with immediate effect.
One would think that there is a lot of drama around the regional by-elections. Wakefield, Tiverton and Honton are just two of the 650 constituencies, and they are certainly not central to British politics. However, the defeat is a disaster for the conservatives.
Wakefield in the post-industrial north. The Conservatives won the seat for the first time in 2019 and are now losing it again to Labour. Tiverton in southern England has been a conservative home for decades. The victory of the Liberal Democrats is the most painful.
How do we continue with the sick prime minister?
The opposition is already smelling dawn for the upcoming national elections in 2024, even if caution is always required when interpreting local elections.
To be fair, it must be noted that the occasion of the by-election was rather ugly. The Tiverton Conservative MP was forced to resign recently after watching pornographic films during a parliamentary debate.
A fellow party member from Wakefield was sentenced to prison for sexually molesting a 15-year-old girl. Not a good starting point, but by no means the only cause of disaster.
fed up
Polls show that Britons are tired of the current Downing Street resident and his government. 70% think Boris Johnson is a liar. And it’s no longer just a ‘partigate’ worrying people about who, where and when to drink beer during the lockdown.
Millions of Britons suffer from historically high inflation and are confused about how to pay their bills. Apparently, deceiving with cheerful promises was no longer enough for them.
“Do not panic”
Boris Johnson responded from afar this afternoon. “There is no need to panic or even resign,” he said from Africa. The Prime Minister is currently in Rwanda, where the Commonwealth Heads of Government meet.
Johnson, who survived a no-confidence vote at the beginning of June, sees no reason to rush home for the time being. He will travel from Kigali to attend the G7 meeting in Elmau, Bavaria, and then to the NATO summit in Madrid.
Geographically at least, it is clear where the ailing prime minister is heading.
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