Co-chair of the Conservative Party, Oliver Dowden, has resigned following significant Tory losses in the by-elections in Wakefield, and Tiverton and Honiton.
The Liberal Democrats won the by-election in Tiverton and Honiton, Devon, overturning a massive Conservative majority – this is their third by-election victory this year. In Wakefield, West Yorkshire, the Labour Party regained the constituency after losing it to the Conservatives in the 2019 General Election.
Furthermore, former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard has called on the Prime Minister to resign as the pressure piles on Boris Johnson.
‘We cannot carry on’
Oliver Dowden is currently the Conservative MP for Hertsmere, Hertfordshire, and had been co-chair of the party alongside colleague Ben Elliot since 2021. He published his letter of resignation, addressed to the Prime Minister, on Twitter at 5:35AM – the morning the by-election results were announced.
Dowden wrote: ‘It is with great sadness that I must resign as Chairman of the Conservative Party with immediate effect. Yesterday’s Parliamentary by-elections are the latest in a run of very poor results for our party. Our supporters are distressed and disappointed by recent events, and I share their feelings.’
He continued: ‘We cannot carry on with business as usual. Someone must take responsibility and I have concluded that, in these circumstances, it would not be right for me to remain in office.’
Dowden emphasised his faith in Conservative volunteers and staffers ‘who work so tirelessly for our cause’, noting that ‘they are the backbone of our great party and deserve better than this.’
Some have pointed out Dowden’s carefully chosen words as, in his closing remarks, he reiterated his loyalty to the Conservative Party – but not to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Earlier this month, Dowden had announced his support for Johnson, confirming on Twitter that he would be voting in favour of the Prime Minister at the no-confidence vote.
Johnson, speaking to journalists in Rwanda where he is representing the UK at a Commonwealth heads of governments meeting, stated that ‘we’ve got to recognise there is more we’ve got to do and we certainly will.’
He continued; ‘We will keep going, addressing the concerns of people until we get through this patch’, seeming to confirm that he is aware of the turmoil the Conservative Party is currently in.
The BBC’s Political Editor, Chris Mason, wrote; ‘What we’ve seen overnight in miniature is the electoral pincer movement the Conservatives most fear.’
Furthermore, Mason noted that ‘Labour’s return to seats like Wakefield it could once nonchalantly bank’, but that ‘the Liberal Democrats [are] planting flags in England’s south west once again; a region that not long ago sent a minibus full of such MPs to Westminster.
‘Conservative MPs from the top down have the jitters this morning; the dawn decision of their former chairman quickening their pulse further.’
‘Action needs to be taken’
Speaking on BBC Radio 4, former Conservative Party leader has explosively called on Boris Johnson to resign as Prime Minister.
Howard said: ‘I always thought that the culture at No 10 at the time of recent events was unacceptable […] but that culture came from the top.’
He continued; ‘What I think yesterday makes clear is that my view is shared by very large numbers of people. The electorate delivered its verdict.
‘I have always been loyal to the leader of the Conservative Party, but I think times now are different and I think that action needs to be taken.’