I won’t stand down... whatever happens at polls, Johnson vows
BORIS Johnson last night insisted he will not quit – whatever the result of crunch by-elections in Yorkshire and Devon.
Voters went to the polls in Wakefield and in Tiverton and Honiton yesterday, with party insiders privately warning they were set to lose both.
Senior Tory figures were last night blaming Jeremy Hunt and other plotters for wrecking the campaigns by trying to unseat Mr Johnson with a vote of no confidence.
Speaking to reporters while travelling to Rwanda, the Prime Minister insisted he was ‘very hopeful’ of a positive outcome from the two by-elections – but said it would be ‘crazy’ to quit over a bad midterm result.
He said: ‘I’m going to be watching the results with interest but always full of optimism and buoyancy but most seasoned political observers know that by-elections in midterm are never necessarily easy for any government.’
Asked if he would quit if he lost both seats, he said: ‘Are you crazy?’
When questioned whether he would take responsibility personally, he said: ‘Come on, it was only a year ago that we won the Hartlepool by- election.’ Both by-elections were triggered by misconduct by former Tory MPs.
The polls are seen as a key test for Mr Johnson’s leadership two weeks after 148 of his own MPs voted in favour of his removal in a confidence vote.
Wakefield, where the Conservatives were defending a majority of less than 3,500, has been seen as a lost cause for weeks. But in Tiverton and Honiton, with a majority of more than 24,000, the Tories were last night said to be ‘neck and neck’ with the Lib Dems.
A senior Tory source said the actions of Tory rebels had exacerbated what was already a difficult contest in Devon.
‘Tiverton and Honiton was always going to be a tough battle because we are midterm and there is residual anger over Partygate where the media have been having a field day.
‘People see it as a way to punish us without a change of Government. But the overlay of division has been massively unhelpful. It was raised on the doorstep time and again – people were saying if even his own MPs won’t vote for him, why should we?’
They added: ‘The really damaging thing is that it came just as the postal ballots were being sent out, where we would normally hope for a decent showing. If we have lost the postals then we have lost. It’s all incredibly unhelpful and totally self-inflicted.’
In Wakefield, West Yorkshire, ex-Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan stood down after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year- old boy and jailed for 18 months.
Wakefield was one of the Red Wall seats won by the Tories in the 2019 general election.
In Devon’s Tiverton and Honiton Neil Parish, its Tory MP since 2010, resigned after admitting he had watched pornography on his phone in the Commons.
The Liberal Democrats are the main challenger in the constituency, where they were hoping to recreate wins in North Shropshire in December and Chesham and Amersham a year ago.