LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – After the Tories lost two by-elections, which is deemed historic, Boris Johnson stated he would “listen” to the voters but would “keep on.”
Johnson asserts that administrations typically lose midterm byelections and that he wants to “reflect on where voters are.”
A longer clip of Boris Johnson commenting on the byelection losses in Rwanda this morning has now been aired by BBC News. While stating that he did not want to downplay the significance of what had occurred, he continued by saying that it was common for governments to lose midterm byelections.
He stated that the governments needed to understand that while he didn’t want to downplay the significance of what people had to say, it was also true that in by-elections held midterm, post-war governments frequently lost.
The genuinely astonishing thing, in his opinion, was that they had managed to win Hartlepool under quite different circumstances in May of last year.
Voters generally believed that the government handled Covid well and made a lot of the correct choices there, so what it needed to do now was take stock of where the voters were. But the UK was under pressure from the rising cost of living.
People were being affected by increases in energy costs, food and fuel prices. They must acknowledge that there was still work to be done, and until they got past that hard patch, they would continue to address the concerns of the public.
In a letter to Dowden, Johnson shirks responsibility for the Tory byelection losses
In his open letter in response to Oliver Dowden’s resignation, Boris Johnson refused to take any personal responsibility for the Tory byelection losses.Â
To Dowden, Johnson said that he appreciated his message and was sad that he was leaving the government.
It had been a pleasure working with him for the past three years as the minister for the Cabinet Office, secretary of state for digital, culture, media, and sport, and co-chairman of the Conservative party.
He had given his all in each of those roles and focused on delivering for the people of Britain.
Despite the fact that he entirely understood his disappointment with the by-election results, this administration was elected just over two years ago with a historic mandate to unite and level up. He looked forward to carrying on their collaborative effort on it.
Despite the fact that he entirely understood his disappointment with the by-election results, this administration was elected just over two years ago with a historic mandate to unite and level up. He looked forward to carrying on their collaborative effort on it.
It felt as if Boris Johnson purposefully misinterpreted the message in Dowden’s letter. Dowden didn’t just refer to election losses when he indicated that supporters were “distressed and disappointed” by recent events. He also appeared to be making reference to Johnson’s own actions and Partygate. (Dowden’s tone is remarkably similar to those of many other Tory MPs who responded to constituent emails requesting their thoughts on the discoveries from the Sue Gray investigation.)
