By-election nights for the Conservatives, trailing behind Labour in the polls, have become a moment of dread at Tory HQ. As one veteran campaigns official put it: “Whenever you get pinged that an MP is standing down, or something worse happens to them, the first thought is ‘Oh no, another by-election’ — often with a horror emoji sign attached.”
Yet Uxbridge and South Ruislip, the west London seat abruptly vacated by Boris Johnson in umbrage at a parliamentary suspension over partygate infractions, roundly bucked the trend with a squeaky 495 majority for the Tories, even as Labour surged in Yorkshire and the Liberal Democrats trounced the Tories in Somerset.
