THE NEW YORK TIMES: The governing Conservatives retained Boris Johnson’s former Parliament seat in northwest London, but lost in two districts, including a sobering defeat in northern England.
Britain’s Conservative Party suffered crushing defeats in the race for what had previously been two safe seats in Parliament, but narrowly avoided losing a third contest, in election results Friday that sent an ominous signal about the political future of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The main opposition Labour Party won its biggest by-election victory since 1945 in Selby and Ainsty, in Yorkshire in the north of England — a dramatic shift in fortunes and a worrisome defeat for the Tories in a region that had undergirded their sweeping national victory three years ago.
The centrist Liberal Democrats scored a thumping win in another former Conservative stronghold, Somerton and Frome, in England’s southwest, revealing further cracks in what had long been a heartland of Tory voters.
But the Conservatives avoided a sweep by narrowly holding on to Uxbridge and South Ruislip, in the northwestern fringes of London, a district that had been represented by the former prime minister, Boris Johnson. » | Mark Landler and Stephen Castle, Reporting from London | Thursday, July 20, 2023
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