In a surprising turn of events, the Labour Party has emerged victorious in two more by-elections, overturning massive Tory majorities. The constituencies of Wellingborough and Kingswood in Gloucestershire saw Labour secure significant wins, with majorities of 18,540 and 11,220 respectively. This means that the Conservative Party has now lost more by-elections than any government since the 1960s.
The newly elected MPs are Damien Egan for Kingswood and Gen Kitchen for Wellingborough. The swing to Labour in Wellingborough was particularly notable, with a staggering 28.5 percentage points swing from Conservative to Labour. This is the second largest swing from Conservative to Labour since the Second World War.
The by-election in Kingswood was triggered by the resignation of Chris Skidmore, who protested against his party's approach to green policy. In Wellingborough, Peter Bone lost his seat following a bullying and sexual misconduct inquiry.
As the Conservative Party grapples with its tenth defeat since the 2019 general election, Jacob Rees-Mogg, a senior Tory and GB News host, offered some peculiar political analysis. Rees-Mogg made an appearance at the Kingswood count on GB News and raised eyebrows with his remarks to BBC News about the result. He stated, 'It's not as bad as I'd expected because if you add together the Conservative and Reform Party vote, it's more than the Labour party vote. Labour didn't get over 50 percent.'
The Reform UK party, formerly known as The Brexit Party and led by Richard Tice, achieved its best performance yet in the Wellingborough by-election, securing 13 percent of the vote. In Kingswood, it received 10 percent of the vote, its second-best result.
Rees-Mogg's comments have been met with ridicule on social media, with many questioning his explanation of the outcome in Kingswood and his suggestion of adding party votes together until achieving the desired result. Some even speculated that he may be expressing support for proportional representation instead of the current 'first past the post' voting system.
This is not the first time Rees-Mogg's electoral analysis has raised eyebrows. In May, at the National Conservatism conference, he referred to his own government's rollout of voter ID as a form of 'gerrymandering.' He stated that the requirement for voter ID had made it difficult for elderly Conservative voters, ultimately backfiring on the party.
The outcome of these by-elections highlights the challenges faced by the Conservative Party and raises questions about their approach to key issues such as green policy and voter ID. As the political landscape continues to evolve, it remains to be seen how these defeats will shape the future of British politics.
