Tory strategists fear a drubbing in this week’s polls, which come in the wake of months of damaging ‘Partygate’ headlines over alleged lockdown breaches at No 10.
Many of Mr Johnson’s enemies in the party have said that they are waiting until after the elections – and the conclusion of the Partygate investigations – before deciding whether to push for a vote of no confidence in Mr Johnson. The fears come after bookmakers made the Liberal Democrats are favourites to win the Tiverton and Honiton by-election triggered by the resignation of 'Porn MP' Neil Parish. Sir Ed's party is 1/3 with StarSports and Ladbrokes to win the by-election triggered by Parish's resignation after admitting that he watched porn twice in the House of Commons yesterday. This puts the party as red hot favourites ahead of the Conservatives who are being priced at 13/8 and 9/4 by the bookmakers. Parish, who has been the MP for Tiverton and Honiton since 2010, confirmed that he will resign as an MP yesterday after admitting to twice watching pornography in Parliament. Parish has a majority of over 24,000 in the constituency which has solely elected Conservatives since it was formed in 1997.
The Lib Dems will start from their third-place finish in the 2019 General Election but the scale of the task will likely not deter the party from throwing resources in a hope of another gain. The party successfully saw a swing of over 23,000 in North Shropshire after Tory Owen Patterson resigned amid a sleaze row.