The Northern Agenda: Wakey-wakey Boris, you've lost another MP

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By ROB PARSONS - June 24 2022

It was exactly 925 days ago that voters in Wakefield played their part in a dramatic reshaping of the North's political landscape as they voted in a Conservative MP for the first time in decades.

But the outlook for Boris Johnson's party in summer 2022 couldn't be more different from the optimism of the 2019 General Election, when the Tories' gains in Labour's Northern heartland seats raised hopes of a permanent shift in voting patterns.

This morning Wakefield was back in Labour hands. A by-election prompted by the resignation of shamed MP Imran Ahmad Khan saw a 12.7% swing from the Tories and ushered in a new Labour MP, NHS worker Simon Lightwood. You can catch up with the action as it happened on this live blog .

In the early hours of the morning the former Tory stronghold of Tiverton and Honiton was lost to the Liberal Democrats and minutes later Conservative Party co-chairman Oliver Dowden quit, saying he and Tory supporters are “distressed and disappointed by recent events” and telling Mr Johnson that “someone must take responsibility”.

Comparing the Wakefield by-election result with the 2019 General Election reveals the extent to which local voters deserted the Tories this time round (with the caveat that turnout is usually lower in by-elections).

Tory candidate Nadeem Ahmed got 8,241 votes, some 13,000 fewer than Imran Ahmad Khan's total three years ago. And Simon Lightwood won comfortably with a majority of nearly 5,000 despite