Boris Johnson wakes to a shock Tory defeat in the Chesham and Amersham by-election. Overnight, the Liberal Democrats have turned the seat yellow for the first time in its history. The Lib Dem candidate Sarah Green managed to overturn a majority of 16,000 in the Buckinghamshire seat that has only ever been Tory — after the by-election was called following the death of Conservative MP Dame Cheryl Gillan. Green won a majority of 8,028 — with 21,517 votes to the Conservative candidate’s 13,489.
The 25 point swing to the party will certainly come as a nasty surprise for Tory MPs
Announcing the news, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey heralded it proof that ‘the Tory blue wall is beginning to crumble’. The 25 point swing to the party will certainly come as a nasty surprise for Tory MPs. Ahead of the result, MPs on the ground there were predicting a Tory win with a reduced majority. Both sides were comparing it to the Witney by-election after David Cameron quit the Commons — where votes went to the Lib Dems but the Tories still held onto it with a majority of over 5,000.
So, what does the result point to? The Liberal Democrats heavily campaigned here with regular visits from Davey.
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