The people of Tiverton and Honiton have shown Boris Johnson the door, and this is a message the Conservative MPs propping up Johnson simply cannot run away from. It will go down in history as the biggest majority ever overturned at a byelection, showing once again that the Liberal Democrats are beating the Conservatives right across their former heartlands.
I am incredibly proud of the campaign fought by our new Lib Dem MP Richard Foord. He served our country as an officer in the British army for a decade, and he will now serve his community in parliament. I campaigned alongside Richard in the towns and villages of Devon and saw him win over lifelong Conservative voters disgusted with Johnson, along with Labour supporters who knew we were best placed to beat the Tories here.
On the doorsteps of rural Devon, I heard the same message time and time again. It’s not just Partygate and the constant lies and law-breaking. It’s the general sense of neglect and being taken for granted by Johnson’s Conservatives. I heard stories of people waiting hours for an ambulance to arrive, or weeks to book a GP appointment. Of crumbling schools the Conservatives have promised for years to repair. And of families struggling to afford to fill up their car or put food on the table.
Like communities right across the country, people in Devon are on their knees, and desperate for support and leadership from this government. We have the worst inflation for decades and the fastest drop in living standards since the 1950s. But at this time of crisis, all we hear from Johnson and his cronies in the cabinet is them blaming others and sowing the seeds of division. People are fed up with the Johnson playbook and are desperate for a change.
Our stunning victory in Tiverton and Honiton has shown there is hope. There is a clear route to breaking Johnson’s grasp on power. He is clinging on to his premiership by a thread, propped up by spineless Conservative MPs who are now looking nervously over their shoulders at the Lib Dems.
The people of Tiverton and Honiton, just like those in North Shropshire and Chesham and Amersham before them, have shown Johnson can be beaten even in the safest Conservative seats in the country. If Conservative MPs don’t stand up and take action, they know we could be coming for them, too. Every backbencher who sat on the fence, every junior minister on the government payroll and every cabinet minister can see they are in danger. Even a fraction of the swing we saw in Devon could see dozens of seats across the “blue wall” turn yellow.
If Conservative MPs refuse to act and get rid of Johnson, we will get rid of them at the next election. We will stand up for a country where families can live free from fear of soaring bills, where our leaders stand for what is right and what is decent, and where local communities are listened to instead of being ignored and taken for granted.
Ed Davey is leader of the Liberal Democrats
