By-election boost for Boris – but vote share is slashed
THE Tories are ‘not terribly worried about Labour’, chairman Oliver Dowden claimed yesterday after the party coasted to a comfortable win in a by-election.
Local councillor Louie French became Britain’s newest MP after winning the safe Conservative seat of Old Bexley and Sidcup, albeit with a sharply reduced majority.
The constituency on the edge of south-east London was once held by former PM Sir Edward Heath and fell vacant after the death of ex-Cabinet minister James Brokenshire in October.
Mr French took more than half the votes in the contest, but a turnout of only 34 per cent meant the Conservatives’ majority was slashed from almost 19,000 to 4,478. The party’s share of the vote fell from 64.5 per cent to 51.5 per cent.
Labour pointed to a ten-point swing in its favour and claimed the result showed Sir Keir Starmer was on track for No 10 at the next election.
But previous midterm governments have suffered swings of up to 44 per cent. Mr Dowden said the solid Tory performance suggested Labour was struggling to break through.
He said: ‘Governing parties shouldn’t expect to do well midterm. We actually secured over 50 per cent of the vote in Bexley. This idea Labour have made some surge ahead is really for the birds. They’ve got about the same vote share as they secured under Jeremy Corbyn in 2017. Keir Starmer couldn’t even be bothered to turn up to the by-election so I’m really not terribly worried about Labour.’
The Lib Dems and Greens both lost their deposits. But in a development that will alarm some MPs, the Reform Party founded by Nigel Farage secured 6.6 per cent of the vote. Mr Farage has said he is considering returning to front-line politics to campaign on issues such as immigration.
Boris Johnson yesterday travelled to North Shropshire, where many senior figures fear they will face a tougher by-election on December 16 against a backdrop of rows about sleaze.
But a source said after the Bexley victory: ‘We are mid-term, it has not been a good month for the Government and people are being noisy about their frustrations with No 10. In that context, this is a very solid win.’
The North Shropshire by-election was sparked by the resignation of Owen Paterson last month.