Sunak v Starmer...
It’s him or me, PM tells voters after bruising losses in two by-elections
RISHI Sunak told voters last night they must make a personal choice between him and Sir Keir Starmer as he tried to shrug off a bruising double by-election defeat.
Insisting the record losses were more about low turnout than enthusiasm for Labour, the Prime Minister said the circumstances of the polls made them ‘particularly challenging’.
Labour seized the previously safe seats of Kingswood and Wellingborough – meaning the Government has endured more by-election losses (ten) in a single parliament than any administration since the 1960s. Sir Keir’s party overturned majorities of 11,220 and 18,540 respectively, and secured its second-largest swing ever from the Conservatives.
It followed a difficult week for both parties – with Labour engulfed in an anti-Semitism storm and the Tories under pressure after it was announced that Britain had entered a recession.
Both contests were seen largely as twohorse races between Labour and the Conservatives, though the Tories also faced the threat of strengthening support for Reform UK among disgruntled voters on the Right.
Mr Sunak – who was shown a collection of knives seized by officers as he visited a police station in Harlow, Essex – warned that a vote for anyone except the Tories at the general election was a vote for Sir Keir, saying it’s ‘between me and him’ as he set up a presidentialstyle battle for the keys to Downing Street later this year.
Asked whether he was more concerned about Reform UK or Labour, he said: ‘A vote for anyone who isn’t the Conservative candidate, whether that’s Reform or anyone else, is just a vote to put Keir Starmer in power.
‘That’s the actual choice at the general election, between me and him, between the Conservatives and Labour.
‘Mid-term elections are always difficult for incumbent governments, and the circumstances of these elections were of course particularly challenging. If you look at the results, [there was a] very low turnout, and it shows that we’ve got work to do to show people that we are delivering on their priorities and that’s what I’m absolutely determined to do.
‘But it also shows that there isn’t a huge amount of enthusiasm for the alternative in Keir Starmer and the Labour Party, and that’s because they don’t have a plan.’
Tory former minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said: ‘ Conservative Party votes are most likely to come from people who stay at home or who voted Reform. How do we win them back to the Tory family – people who share many views and values with us? By delivering things they believe in.’
He added that Labour should be worried about the lack of enthusiasm among voters, telling the Mail: ‘Labour isn’t getting the level of support that Tony Blair got in general elections, and if you assume that by-elections accentuate opposition support – which historically they’ve always done – then that ought to be worrying for Labour. They’re not motivating people to turn out to vote for them.’
Former Brexit minister Lord
Frost said: ‘The Labour vote isn’t going up, but ours is collapsing. To get voters back, we need a shift to more conservative policy, on tax and spend, immigration, net zero, public sector reform, and more. It’s late, but not – yet – too late.’
The results are likely to increase plotting against Mr Sunak when the Commons returns from recess on Monday. Tory MP Dame Andrea Jenkyns reposted her letter of no confidence in the PM on X, writing: ‘However difficult for fellow MPs we have no choice, we have to change leader.’ Richard Tice’s Reform Party scored more than 10 per cent of the vote for the first time in a by- election, with deputy leader Ben Habib winning 13 per cent in Wellingborough.
Gen Kitchen secured Wellingborough with 45.9 per cent of the vote, while Damien Egan won Kingswood with 44.9 per cent. Sir Keir said Labour had seen ‘Tory switchers’
boost its vote share, but emphasised that he had warned his team against complacency in the run-up to the general election.
Polling guru Sir John Curtice told the Mail: ‘The increase in Labour support was half the fall in the Conservative vote. This is consistent with the polling evidence that discontent with the Conservatives is more widespread than enthusiasm for Labour.’
The Liberal Democrats were humiliated in both by- elections, receiving just 4.7 per cent of votes in Wellingborough, and 3.5 per cent in Kingswood.
‘How do we win voters back?’
THERE were some in the Tory ranks yesterday who described the latest byelection drubbings as a warning shot to the beleaguered party.
But so many dramas and disasters have befallen the Conservatives over the past two years, heavy machine gunfire may be a more appropriate analogy.
How many more volleys must there be before Rishi Sunak and his team take notice and respond?
Unless they do so swiftly and decisively, the party may be heading for a near wipeout at the next General Election. It would be futile for the Prime Minister to seek crumbs of solace in the shattering loss of both Wellingborough and Kingswood to Labour. These were supposedly safe seats, yet in each a huge majority was overturned.
Worse still, these defeats came in the wake of what was perhaps the most testing fortnight of Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership, with his £28 billion-a-year green plan ditched and anti-Semitism rearing its head again.
More ominous for the Tories was the buoyant performance of the Reform Party, which had its best by-elections by far. Many Conservative voters are so disgruntled that, if not switching parties, they have gone on strike. And can they be blamed?
Britain groans under the highest taxes since the 1940s. Immigration is sky high. The NHS is creaking, violent crime is rife and our institutions are still riddled with wokery. This is the exact opposite of what the Tories promised.
Yet despite Labour’s local triumphs, there is no great enthusiasm for it nationwide. The truth is, neither party is speaking to Britain’s needs.
Mr Sunak’s agenda is too often pedestrian and technocratic, while Sir Keir’s manifesto ( or what there is of one) is a faded photocopy of Blairism, but without the charisma and energy.
So what must the Tories do to make people vote for them again? Short of plying them with mind-altering drugs, the answer must be to return to true blue principles.
That means robust support for defence, fixing the asylum system and stopping small boats. It means an economy which properly rewards those who contribute to society. And it means an efficient public sector.
Spooked by the by-election defeats, it’s understandable that Tory MPs are looking nervously at their own majorities. But talk of ousting Mr Sunak is preposterous.
The party must show unity and purpose, and start delivering on voters’ priorities. It has months to prove it is fit to run Britain. The radical reboot must start now.