AFP :
Britain’s Boris Johnson lost his first test as prime minister on Friday after his candidate was edged out by a pro-EU rival in a by-election that slims his parliamentary majority to one.
Thursday’s vote in the Welsh sheep farming community of Brecon and Radnorshire offered a stark choice between a Brexit-backing candidate from Johnson’s Conservative party and a Liberal Democrat who wants to preserve Britain’s four-decade stay in the EU. Johnson dropped by the region on Tuesday to help out Chris Davies-a Conservative MP who was forced to step down after becoming embroiled in an expanses scandal.
Davies protested his innocense and contested the seat again but the Liberal Democrats’ Jane Dodds received 13,826 votes to Davies’ 12,401 after having two smaller pro-EU parties back her bid. The result extends a recent revival for the Liberal Democrats at the major parties’ expense. Its firm stand against Britain’s split from the European Union saw it come a surprise second behind populist
eurosceptic Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party in the European Parliament elections in May. Farage’s candidate ate into the Conservative’s support by picking up 3,331 votes. The main opposition Labour Party-once a dominant force in Wales-came in a distant fourth with just 1,680. “My very first act as MP when I arrive in Westminster will be to find Boris Johnson wherever he is hiding and tell him loud and clear-stop playing with the futures of our communities and rule out no-deal Brexit,” a visibly relieved Dodds said. The election was viewed as a test of strength for the “Boris bounce” that has helped the Conservatives regain a slim lead in some national opinion polls.
Control of Brecon and Radnorshire has swung between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives since the 1990s. It voted 52 percent to leave the European Union in the 2016 vote-mirroring the UK-wide result.
But the controversies surrounding Davies turned this into an unusual contest whose outcome might not reflect either Johnson’s or Brexit’s true level of wider support. The defeat still leaves Johnson in danger of being unable to control parliament in the crucial runup to Britain’s scheduled departure from the EU on October 31.
Britain’s Boris Johnson lost his first test as prime minister on Friday after his candidate was edged out by a pro-EU rival in a by-election that slims his parliamentary majority to one.
Thursday’s vote in the Welsh sheep farming community of Brecon and Radnorshire offered a stark choice between a Brexit-backing candidate from Johnson’s Conservative party and a Liberal Democrat who wants to preserve Britain’s four-decade stay in the EU. Johnson dropped by the region on Tuesday to help out Chris Davies-a Conservative MP who was forced to step down after becoming embroiled in an expanses scandal.
Davies protested his innocense and contested the seat again but the Liberal Democrats’ Jane Dodds received 13,826 votes to Davies’ 12,401 after having two smaller pro-EU parties back her bid. The result extends a recent revival for the Liberal Democrats at the major parties’ expense. Its firm stand against Britain’s split from the European Union saw it come a surprise second behind populist
eurosceptic Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party in the European Parliament elections in May. Farage’s candidate ate into the Conservative’s support by picking up 3,331 votes. The main opposition Labour Party-once a dominant force in Wales-came in a distant fourth with just 1,680. “My very first act as MP when I arrive in Westminster will be to find Boris Johnson wherever he is hiding and tell him loud and clear-stop playing with the futures of our communities and rule out no-deal Brexit,” a visibly relieved Dodds said. The election was viewed as a test of strength for the “Boris bounce” that has helped the Conservatives regain a slim lead in some national opinion polls.
Control of Brecon and Radnorshire has swung between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives since the 1990s. It voted 52 percent to leave the European Union in the 2016 vote-mirroring the UK-wide result.
But the controversies surrounding Davies turned this into an unusual contest whose outcome might not reflect either Johnson’s or Brexit’s true level of wider support. The defeat still leaves Johnson in danger of being unable to control parliament in the crucial runup to Britain’s scheduled departure from the EU on October 31.
