In the wilderness
By contrast, Britain’s Tories, who were running the country in government under two years ago, had a bruising night. They dropped from an already-dire general election showing of 7.9 percent to just 1.9 percent — receiving a paltry 706 votes.
By polling under 5 percent, the party’s worst ever by-election result, the Tories lost the £500 deposit all candidates must pay to stand.
In the immediate aftermath, Tory figures stressed that the party never had a chance of winning a constituency that has been reliably Labour for decades. Instead, they talked up Reform’s failure to seal the deal.
“While last night’s result was disappointing for my party (we had a cracking candidate) it was not really our battlefield,” said former Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell. “The result was, however, very bad for Reform and may mark the beginning of the end of their hegemony.”
Tory MP and former minister Graham Stuart said voters cast their ballots differently at by-elections compared to general elections, when they choose the next government.
“The public is unhappy with the way the country is and has been run, and so has turned to parties on the left and right that reflect that anger,” he argued. “When the public is looking to replace this government at the next election they will look for something else,” Stuart added, referring to Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch.