Polls close in Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire by-elections

The contests in two relatively safe Tory seats will give an indication of the electoral task facing Rishi Sunak
PA Wire
David Hughes19 October 2023
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Polls have closed in two by-elections which could give an indication of the scale of the challenge facing the main political parties ahead of a national contest expected next year.

The Tories are defending what should be safe seats in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth, but allies of Rishi Sunak have admitted the party faces “difficult headwinds” because of the circumstances of the contests.

Former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries quit – eventually – as Mid Bedfordshire’s MP in anger at being denied a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.

In Tamworth, Chris Pincher quit after being found to have drunkenly groped two men in an “egregious case of sexual misconduct” at London’s exclusive Carlton Club last year – an incident which helped trigger Mr Johnson’s exit from No 10 because of his handling of the situation.

Although riding high in the national opinion polls, Labour said it would be a “moon shot” to win either seat.

The Tories have held Mid Bedfordshire since 1931 and Ms Dorries held on to it in 2019 by 24,664 votes over second-placed Labour.

Mr Sunak’s party is defending a 19,600 majority in Tamworth.

The Prime Minister’s press secretary said the by-elections had come about after “difficult local circumstances”.

She said “mid-term by-elections are extremely tough for incumbent governments”.

A Labour spokesman said that neither of the “super safe Tory seats” were on Sir Keir Starmer’s general election target list.

The spokesman said: “If we were to win Tamworth and had that swing at a general election, it would mean that the Tories will be down to fewer than 60 seats at the next general election.

“So a little bit of perspective is required here. Tamworth is a seat where the Tories got 66% of the vote at the last election. Mid Bedfordshire is a similarly safe Tory constituency.”

In Mid Bedfordshire, a three-way fight has seen the Liberal Democrats taking on Labour and the Tories, potentially making it easier for the Conservative candidate Festus Akinbusoye.

Labour’s Alistair Strathern and the Lib Dems’ Emma Holland-Lindsay have both received high-profile backing from their party leaders in a contest which they have had plenty of time to prepare for – Ms Dorries said she would quit in June but it took until late August for her to formally resign.

In Tamworth, Labour’s Sarah Edwards will hope to defeat Tory Andrew Cooper.

On Wednesday, Mr Cooper said he was “sorry if I’ve offended somebody” after an apparent suggestion that out-of-work parents who cannot afford to feed their children should “f*** off”.

Mr Sunak was asked during Prime Minister’s Questions about a photo of a flowchart shared by Andrew Cooper on Facebook.

The diagram suggested that those who are out of work but pay for “TV Sky/BT/etc”, or “have a phone contract + £30” should “f*** off” rather than seek help.

In reply to the question, the Prime Minister said only that he was “proud of our record supporting people with the cost of living”, before outlining Government policies aimed at supporting people through the crisis.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in