BORIS BRUISED

British Conservatives Suffer Double Election Loss in Nightmare for Boris Johnson

The Conservative Party chairman also resigned in the wake of the results, which have caused panic in the U.K.’s ruling party.

Boris Johnson has come under renewed pressure after his party lost two important by-elections on Friday morning that were widely regarded as a referendum on his leadership. Johnson narrowly survived a vote of no confidence brought by his own Conservative colleagues two weeks ago following months of scandalous revelations about lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street. But this week’s results will renew worries about the bumbling prime minister’s ability to lead his party into the next general election. One of the seats lost in the latest result—the constituency area of Tiverton and Honiton in southwest England—has been in Conservative hands for almost a century. Oliver Dowden, the Conservative Party Chairman, resigned early on Friday morning in the wake of the humiliating results. Johnson vowed to “listen to what people are saying” and “keep going” while speaking to reporters during a trip to Rwanda this morning.