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LONDON – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership suffered a new blow on Friday with the resignation of his party’s president after the Conservatives lost two symbolically important parliamentary seats in the election.
Oliver Dowden, chairman of the ruling Conservative Party and Johnson’s first advocate, resigned after his party was defeated in two special parliamentary elections, saying “someone has to take responsibility.”
“We cannot continue with business as usual,” he wrote in a letter to the Prime Minister.
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His resignation it came hours after the Conservatives lost seats to opposition from the Labor Party and the Liberal Democrats in areas of the country where defeats will provoke nervousness in the Conservatives and renew questions about Johnson’s leadership.
Johnson, who is in Rwanda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, told reporters at a press conference, “I will not pretend these are brilliant results. We must listen, we must learn.” When asked if he cared about critics of his own party conspiring against him while he was out of the country, Johnson said “no.”
Johnson is out of Britain for several days. After the Commonwealth summit, he will head to Germany for a Group of Seven meeting and then to Spain for a NATO summit.
The Prime Minister’s Conservatives have been fighting polls amid a cost-of-living crisis and revelations that he and his staff breached the covid blocking rules, which led to Johnson becoming the first British Prime Minister to be fined while in office.
Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, tweeted his support for Johnson. “We are all responsible for the results and I am determined to continue working to meet the cost of living,” he said. Sunak was once considered a possible successor to Johnson, but his star has waned in recent months.
Others, including former Conservative leader Michael Howard, said Johnson should resign “for the good of the country.” He told the BBC that it may be time for the Conservative Party to change its rules, as it can, to allow for another leadership challenge.
Recently, Johnson won a censorship vote in his leadership, convened by disgruntled colleagues who wanted to oust him. Under current rules, no further voting can be called for one year.
The two special parliamentary elections were triggered Next high-profile resignations of Conservative legislators. Tiverton and Honiton MP Neil Parish resigned after he was allowed to view pornography in the House of Commons. Imran Ahmad Khan of Wakefield was found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenager.
They represented only two seats in the 650-seat Parliament where the Conservatives dominate. But the losses will be worrisome for the party, with signs of anti-Tory tactical voting and defeats in constituencies of symbolic importance.
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At the seat of Tiverton and Honiton in the south-west of England, the Liberal Democrats won 53 percent of the vote against 39 percent of the Conservatives. The loss in this area, sometimes dubbed the “blue wall” for its conservative historical support — Tiverton had voted conservative for more than a century — raises questions about other conservative seats that are believed to be extremely safe.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey hailed it as “the biggest partial election victory our country has ever seen.” This is the third time in the last year that Liberal Democrats have seized Conservative seats in areas with previously healthy Conservative majorities.
Meanwhile, the main opposition Labor Party won in Wakefield, a former industrial area in the north of England, part of the “red wall” area in the north that Johnson’s Conservatives won in the general election. 2019 with the promise of “achieving Brexit”. . ” Analysts said this district result was less about voter enthusiasm for the Labor Party than about discontent among Conservative voters. They also said there were indications of Labor-Liberal Democrat tactical voting that could hurt the Tories if it is repeated in the next election.
“Johnson’s problem isn’t just that he’s lost popularity,” said John Curtice, a professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde. In the five seats that have been played since Johnson led his party to a massive majority in 2019, “it is perfectly clear that opposition voters are willing to vote for whoever is best able to defeat the Conservatives locally.” . In some cases this has been Labor; in others, the Liberal Democrats.
If there were elections today, Curtice said, the latest polls suggest no party would win definitively, meaning major political parties would need allies to rally a majority.
“The lack of allies in the Tory party would be significant. If the Conservatives can’t get a majority or something like that in the next election, then they are stuffed, ”he said.The next general election is scheduled for January 2025.