Boris Johnson oversees a string of stunning Tory local poll victories

Boris Johnson defied political gravity yesterday as the Conservatives racked up a string of stunning poll victories. 

Labour was thrashed in the Hartlepool by-election, with Jill Mortimer securing a majority of almost 7,000 in a seat the Tories had not held since 1964.

Tory Ben Houchen won a second term as mayor of Tees Valley in the North East, with an astonishing 73 per cent share of the vote.

And the Conservatives gained control of a series of councils, including Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Dudley, Harlow and Nuneaton and Bedworth – reversing the mid-term slump often suffered by governing parties.

With the Tories also winning seats across the West Midlands, senior figures were increasingly confident that the region’s mayor Andy Street will secure a second term in office when returns are announced today.

Labour conceded the results were a ‘shattering’ blow to Sir Keir Starmer, who last night admitted his party had ‘lost the trust of working people’.

The dismal results triggered a fresh wave of Labour infighting, with the Left hitting back at claims by Lord Mandelson that the party was suffering the effects of ‘Long Corbyn’ syndrome.

Khalid Mahmood dealt a fresh blow to Sir Keir last night by announcing he was quitting Labour’s front bench.

The former defence spokesman said the party had been ‘effectively captured’ by a ‘London-based bourgeoisie, with the support of brigades of woke social media warriors’.

Labour sources warned that low turnout and voter ‘complacency’ could even cost Sadiq Khan a second term as London mayor – a contest he had been expected to win by a landslide.

But senior Tories remained on alert for results from the Scottish Parliament elections, with Nicola Sturgeon insisting a majority for the SNP would give her a ‘mandate’ to hold a second independence referendum.      

On a victory tour of Hartlepool yesterday, the Prime Minister acknowledged that the success of the vaccine programme had played its part in the results, but said it was now up to ministers to deliver for voters on his pledge to ‘level up’ opportunity.

He said Brexit had allowed the Government to deliver the vaccine rollout ‘faster than other European countries’.

Asked about the future, he replied: ‘Number one is continuing the vaccine rollout, making sure that we go from jabs, jabs, jabs, to jobs, jobs, jobs, make sure that we have a strong economic recovery.’

The results came as:

• Blairite former Labour minister Lord Adonis joined calls for Sir Keir to resign, saying he was a ‘transitional figure’ who lacked ‘political skills at the highest level’;
• Dominic Cummings hit out at both Labour and the Conservatives, saying that neither was focused on being a ‘serious government’;
• In a glimmer of hope for Labour, Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford suggested the party could become the first to ever gain an outright majority in the Welsh Assembly;
• Sir Keir was sharpening his axe for a major reshuffle in which both his Shadow Chancellor and Shadow Home Secretary could get the chop;
• In a rare reversal, the Conservatives lost control of Cambridgeshire County Council as the Liberal Democrats gained a handful of seats;
• Miss Sturgeon insisted that an SNP majority remained a ‘very, very long shot’, despite early gains;
• In a blow to the Tories, the SNP gained the Edinburgh Central seat previously held by former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson;
• Mr Johnson dropped the strongest hint yet that the next easing of Covid restrictions would go ahead on May 17, allowing indoor socialising and stays away from home.

Thursday’s polls were the biggest test of electoral opinion since the 2019 election, with 48million people able to vote in local, regional and devolved elections.

Both main parties admitted being surprised by the scale of the Tory surge, following a campaign in which normal election canvassing was heavily restricted by Covid regulations. Counting was also delayed by health and safety restrictions imposed because of the pandemic.

But, as the results rolled in, it became clear that Mr Johnson had confounded the conventional wisdom that voters use local elections to punish the sitting government.

Mr Johnson said delivering on his pledge to ‘Get Brexit Done’ had been vital in boosting Tory support in Leave-voting areas in the North and Midlands.

He said the results gave him a ‘mandate’ to deliver on the rest of his programme, but studiously avoided any sense of triumphalism.

Mr Johnson said people ‘can see we did get Brexit done… and I think what people want us to do now is to get on with delivering on everything else’.

In an upbeat assessment he said upgraded economic growth forecasts from the Bank of England suggested there was a ‘prospect of a really strong rebound in the second half of the year’.

A lack of Labour wins to celebrate meant that Sir Keir was forced to deliver his response to the election from his office in London.

The Labour leader appeared rattled by the scale of the setback, but insisted the party was not facing an ‘existential crisis’. He promised to do ‘whatever is necessary’ to rebuild voter trust following a ‘bitterly disappointing’ defeat in Hartlepool.

Lord Mandelson, who once held Hartlepool for Labour, said Jeremy Corbyn still cast a ‘long shadow’ over the party.

The architect of New Labour said the pandemic had also played a key role, with voters more interested in vaccines and the release from lockdown than day-to-day policies.

Richard Burgon, a former Labour frontbencher, claimed Mr Corbyn would have won in Hartlepool, and urged Sir Keir to move further to the Left.

‘We are going backwards in areas we need to be winning,’ he added. ‘Labour’s leadership needs to urgently change direction.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cabinet ministers believe there has been a permanent shift in the nation’s political identity and claimed Mr Johnson could outlast Margaret Thatcher’s 11 years in Downing Street, The Times reports.

They believe the Conservative Party must establish its electoral advantage by winning the ‘culture wars’ and challenging ‘woke’ views.

The Tories could snatch dozens more Red Wall seats at the next General Election following a collapse in support for the Brexit Party, with a switch in allegiance of Nigel Farage’s old voters winning Mr Johnson the Hartlepool by-election.

At the last election in 2019, Labour managed to cling on to the constituency with 15,464 votes as Leavers were split between the Tories and Brexit Party – which picked up 11,869 and 10,603 votes respectively.

But this time support for Mr Farage’s party – now renamed Reform UK – dwindled to just 368 votes, allowing Mr Johnson to clean up with a majority of 6,940.

A Daily Mail analysis has found there are a further 36 Labour seats across the country where the party’s lead over the Tories in 2019 was smaller than the number who voted for the Brexit Party.

Alarm bells will be sounding in Labour HQ about if these are the next bricks in the Red Wall to fall.

The party’s leader Sir Keir Starmer is considering moving out of London to the North to reconnect with Red Wall voters, sources told the Guardian.

Fellow Tory MP Neil O’Brien, who was appointed last week as the Prime Minister’s ‘levelling up’ adviser, said there was a chance to ‘use this incredible moment to change the country for the better’.

Mr Houchen, who has become a galvanising figure for Tory support across the North East, said his thumping win in what was once a rock-solid Labour area was down to a record of delivery following ‘years and years of neglect’.

He added: ‘Governments of both colours have failed to invest in this region and this Government under Boris Johnson has invested hugely – people are seeing tangible benefits on the ground.’

Simon Clarke, Tory MP for Middlesbrough South, said political allegiances that saw some communities vote Labour for decades were now shifting.

‘People in the North East have stopped voting Labour ‘because my parents did’,’ he said.

‘They are looking at the two parties clear-sightedly, on the basis of what they offer – and they aren’t going to go back for being taken for granted.’ In Hartlepool, Mrs Mortimer gained 15,529 votes – more than half the total cast.

 

 

 

#StarmerOut: Keir Starmer becomes subject of humiliating memes as fury builds over Labour’s loss in Hartlepool by-election and faces more pain at the polls today

Labour leader Keir Starmer became a figure of ridicule this morning as he was subjected to an avalanche of memes urging him to stand down after party stronghold Hartlepool was won by the Tories.

As #StarmerOut began to gain traction on Twitter the 58-year-old was likened to a clown and suggested to be so weak he could be defeated by a feather.

Another teasing image mocked him up as Rick Moranis’s bumbling character in film Honey I Shrunk The Kids, this time titled ‘Honey I shrunk the Labour Party’.

And he was even photoshopped so he replaced Boris Johnson in the humiliating picture of him waving flags stuck on a zipline. 

A more niche ribbing featured the The League of Gentlemen’s Creme Brulee member Les McQueen looking deflated caption as if it was Sir Keir visiting Hartlepool.   

It came hours after Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown Lloyd Russell-Moyle took to Twitter on Thursday night to question his party’s attempts to change its image.

He said: ‘Good to see valueless flag waving and suit wearing working so well… or not?’

The comment seemed to be a reference to a leaked strategy document which suggested Labour must make ‘use of the flag, veterans, dressing smartly’ to win back voters in red wall seats in the party’s former industrial heartlands.

Labour’s new strategy was based on extensive focus groups conducted in places from Watford to Grimsby last September alongside UK polls. It was suggested displays of patriotism are needed to reinforce the idea the party has changed and to win back losses in the 2019 election.  

Mr Russel-Moyle became the first Labour MP to publicly question Sir Keir and his strategy. 

The Brighton MP was an ally of previous leader Jeremy Corbyn before joining the shadow frontbench under Sir Keir. 

He stepped down as the shadow minister for air quality and the natural environment last July.  

His resignation came weeks after he apologised to author JK Rowling for writing an article where he accused her of ‘using her own sexual assault as justification for discriminating’ against trans people.

In 2018, he hit headlines after he was suspended from the Commons for picking up the ceremonial mace in protest at a Brexit vote being deferred.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle reacted furiously after the Government whip formally postponed the vote – because then-PM Theresa May was facing a humiliating defeat.

The mace is the symbol of the authority of the House and during sittings is placed on the table next to the despatch box in front of the Speaker.

In 2019, Russell-Moyle joined thirteen other Labour MPs on Westminster Bridge, next to the Houses of Parliament, in a protest against Brexit under the banner ‘Love Socialism Hate Brexit’.

Hartlepool is expected to be the first major result announced after a raft of elections across the UK, with Boris Johnson hopeful of snatching the seat from Labour which has held the constituency since its inception in the 1970s.