“I’m not looking forward to tonight,” was one senior Conservative aide’s thought ahead of Thursday’s byelection count. Their concern proved warranted, as hours later the Tories went on to lose both the Tamworth and Mid-Bedfordshire byelections – with Labour overturning eye-watering majorities of 19,634 and 24,664 respectively.
This is, of course, part of a succession of bad byelection results for the Tories. Indeed, it’s been a trend of the past two years. But the fact that both seats are, on paper, extremely safe Tory strongholds, means that these results cannot be discounted purely as midterm blues. As the polling expert Prof John Curtice put it, they “represent one of the worst byelection nights that any government has had to endure”.
