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LONDON – The harassed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered another blow on Friday with the resignation of his party’s president after the Conservatives lost two symbolically important parliamentary seats.
Oliver Dowden, chairman of the Conservative Party in government and an early supporter of Johnson, resigned from his post after the special election defeats on Thursday, saying “someone has to take responsibility.”
“We cannot continue with business as usual,” he wrote in a letter to the Prime Minister.
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Dowden’s resignation came hours after the Conservatives lost seats to opposition from the Labor Party and the Liberal Democrats in constituencies where defeats will raise concerns for the Conservatives and renew questions about Johnson’s leadership.
The prime minister, who is in Rwanda for a meeting of Commonwealth heads of government, said: “I will not pretend these are brilliant results. We must listen, we must learn.” At a press conference, he was asked if he was concerned that critics of his own party were conspiring against him while he was out of the country, he said “no”.
Johnson is out of Britain for several days. After the Commonwealth summit, he heads to Germany for a Group of Seven meeting and then to Spain for a NATO summit.
Prime Minister Conservatives have been fighting polls amid a cost-of-living crisis and revelations that he and his staff breached covid blocking rules, prompting Johnson to become the first British Prime Minister to be fined while in office.
Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, tweeted his support for Johnson. “We are all responsible for the results and I am determined to continue working to meet the cost of living,” he said. Sunak was considered a possible successor to Johnson, but his star has waned in recent months.
Others, including former Conservative leader Michael Howard, said Johnson should resign “for the good of the country.” He told the BBC it might be time for the Conservative Party to change its rules to allow for a new leadership challenge.
Recently, Johnson won a censorship vote in his leadership, convened by disgruntled colleagues who wanted to oust him. Under current rules, no further voting can be called for one year.
The special election was triggered by the high-profile resignations of two Conservative lawmakers. Neiv Parish of Tiverton and Honiton resigned after being caught watching pornography in the House of Commons. Imran Ahmad Khan of Wakefield was found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenager.
Conservatives still dominate the 650-seat House. But the losses will be worrisome for the party, with signs of anti-Tory tactical voting and defeats in constituencies of symbolic importance.
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At the seat of Tiverton and Honiton in the south-west of England, the Liberal Democrats won 53 percent of the vote against 39 percent of the Conservatives. The loss in this area, sometimes dubbed the “blue wall” —Tiverton had voted conservative for more than a century — raises questions about other conservative seats that are believed to be extremely safe.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey hailed it as “the biggest partial election victory our country has ever seen.” It was the third time in the last year that Liberal Democrats seized Conservative seats in areas with previously healthy Conservative majorities.
Meanwhile, the main opposition Labor Party won in Wakefield, a former industrial area in the north of England, which is part of the “red wall” area that Johnson’s Conservatives won in 2019 with the promise of “achieving Brexit”. Analysts said the result was less about voter enthusiasm for the Labor Party than about discontent among Conservative voters. They also said there were indications of Labor-Liberal Democrat tactical voting that could hurt the Tories if it is repeated in the next election.
“Johnson’s problem isn’t just that he’s lost popularity,” said John Curtice, a professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde. In the five special elections since his party won a massive majority in 2019, “it is perfectly clear that opposition voters are willing to vote for whoever is best able to defeat the Conservatives locally.” In some cases this has been Labor; in others, the Liberal Democrats.
If there were elections today, Curtice said, polls suggest no party would definitely win. Major political parties would need allies to rally a majority.
“The lack of Tory party allies would be significant,” he said. “If the Conservatives can’t get a majority or something like that in the next election, then they’re stuffed.”
The next general election is scheduled for January 2025.