The Conservative Party could face its biggest by-election defeat ever in Nadine Dorries’ seat, according to a bombshell new poll.
The former Culture Secretary announced that she planned to trigger a by-election in her seat on June 9 but has yet to actually trigger the formal process. It means there is no date for the by-election as it stands.
Now polling by Opinium, seen by The Daily Telegraph, shows that Labour would overturn her 24,664 majority in a seat that has been held by the Tories since 1931.
The Tories face three difficult by-elections on July 20. Labour hopes to take Boris Johnson’s seat of Uxbridge & South Ruislip while the Lib Dems hope to win Somerton & Frome, which they held before 2015.
The best hope for the Tories holding on is in Selby & Ainsty, following the resignation of Nigel Adams, but party managers are braced to possibly lose all three.
Following her resignation, Ms Dorries suggested there had been “sinister forces” behind the decision not to include her on Mr Johnson’s honours list.
Peter Kyle, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, who won Hove from the Tories in 2015 and is running Labour’s campaign in Mid Bedfordshire, said: “The community is fleeing the Tories but they haven’t fully chosen their destination.
“There’s no complacency here for Labour but it’s a massive, unprecedented and historic opportunity.”
Last year the Tories lost Tiverton and Honiton and Wakefield to the Lib Dems and Labour respectively.
