United Kingdom: Conservative defeat in local elections, Boris Johnson in turmoil

Surrounded for several weeks by scandals, Boris Johnson wiped the snub from the polls in North Shropshire, in the west of England. On Friday morning, the Liberal Democratic Party (LibDem) was announced the winner of this by-election with at least 6,000 votes in advance. A spokesperson for this party, a rival of the conservatives including the chief executive, described the result as “disaster for Boris Johnson”.

By the admission of Conservative MP Edward Timpson, interviewed Thursday by Sky News, this election night was “very difficult” for the majority party. The turnout in this very rural constituency of England, yet a Conservative stronghold for decades, was 46.3%. Far from the 62.9% reached in the general election, which saw Boris Johnson’s party triumph under the promise of Brexit.

With this defeat, the Prime Minister once again finds himself in a crisis of authority. Voters in North Shropshire were being called to the polls to choose the successor of Owen Paterson, MP since 1997, who had to resign over a lobbying affair. Boris Johnson had initially supported him by trying to change the disciplinary rules of parliament, before retreating in the face of the outcry even in his own camp. According to the British press, the case will have weighed on the outcome of the vote.

Long armored, the chief executive’s popularity has plummeted and recent polls nationally put the Labor opposition several points ahead. In recent weeks, Boris Johnson has faced charges of violating health restrictions at private parties in 2020 at 10 Downing Street and in government departments.

The revelations come in the midst of the epidemic, with the United Kingdom on Thursday having a record of new cases for the second day in a row. Marginalized, Boris Johnson had to face this Tuesday an unprecedented sling of his majority: 99 deputies voted against the establishment of a health pass, deemed liberticidal, finally adopted thanks to the votes of the Labor opposition.

After this bad result, the Conservative Party could organize in the coming days a vote of no confidence against Boris Johnson, with a view to replacing him at the head of the executive. The names that circulate the most are those of its foreign ministers Liz Truss and finance Rishi Sunak.