They’ve “smashed the blue wall“, they’ve burst “Boris’ bubble“, now they’ve “shown Boris the door“. You know your stunt has flopped when it makes the Ed Stone look like grown up politics…
Boris has also replied to Dowden’s resignation letter, which you can read below:
If you’re just waking up, the Tories have lost both by-elections by significant margins and large swings – huge in the case of Tiverton – and the Tory chairman Oliver Dowden has just quit. His resignation letter spells out he believes the party “cannot carry on with business as usual,” though appears to take full blame. He concludes:
“I want to emphasise that this is a deeply personal decision that I have taken alone. I will, as always, remain loyal to the Conservative Party.”
Guido’s old enough to remember back to 2019, when a triple by-line op-ed from Rishi, Dowden and Robert Jenrick was seen as pivotal in building support for Boris among younger MPs. Now only one remains…
Dowden’s resignation letter in full:
Labour win Wakefield, LibDems win Tiverton and Honiton.
UPDATE: Dowden Resigns
Ouch…
With Labour already being given a 92% chance at the bookies, Tory candidate Nadeem Ahmed is facing an uphill battle in Wakefield, and needs all the support he can get from the local party. Unfortunately for him, he might be in trouble there as well…
It was only in July of last year that Ahmed was unceremoniously booted from his role as Wakefield Council’s Conservative group leader, after losing an anonymous vote of no confidence at a party meeting. According to reports, he just wasn’t up to the job, although at the time his allies disputed that he’d been underperforming. Still, doesn’t exactly look good…
The by-election campaign on the ground hasn’t been great either. A co-conspirator sent Guido one of the Tories’ leaflets posted around the constituency, and it turns out the party don’t seem to know the Wakefield constituency well. The front page boasts of “Getting on with the job in Wakefield“, and then lists Middleton as an area the Tories hope to improve. 
All well and good – except Middleton is actually 10 miles away, in Hilary Benn’s constituency…
