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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces a new electoral challenge after Boris Johnson’s surprise resignation from Parliament triggered at least three by-elections that could highlight softening support for the Conservative Party.
Johnson quit after receiving the finding of the Parliament’s Privileges Committee investigation into whether he misled lawmakers over his knowledge of Covid-19 rule breaches by officials. While the findings haven’t been made public, the former premier called the report a “political hit job†in a scathing resignation letter.
Sunak will have more than just Johnson’s seat to defend. Nadine Dorries, a key Johnson ally, also resigned from her Mid Bedfordshire seat after she was denied a peerage in Johnson’s resignation honor list. Nigel Adams announced he was standing down as a member of UK parliament with immediate effect, triggering a third by-election.
The by-elections complicate Sunak’s hopes of further narrowing the gap with the opposition Labour Party ahead of a general election due by January 2025.
Recent opinion polls have put Labour up by between 9 and 14 points, short of the more than 20-point lead in surveys taken in late 2022.