Party strategists will be concerned that Reform UK managed to post double-digit vote shares in both Kingswood and Wellingborough. But the mortal danger is Labour, and Conservatives cannot afford to forget it.
It is a party with no prospect of any majority in the House of Commons, which cannot and will not change a word of legislation – and will put in grave peril the real progress we have made since 2019.
Tory MPs have refused to go and canvas for their candidate, the girlfriend of the disgraced Peter Bone.
Whatever Harrison’s personal qualities as a candidate, her selection has immediately been overshadowed by her personal life. Harrison is the girlfriend of Peter Bone: the current Wellingborough MP who has been forced to stand down.
The Prime Minister was obliged to listen to some advice from Wellingborough Conservative Party: “Say the first thing that comes into your head.”
It is certainly not the Brexit that people voted for. As Bill Clinton might have said about the main issue: It’s the Sovereignty, Stupid!
This campaign has shocked me. I have been deliberately belittled by being only described in terms of my relationship to a man in an overtly sexist fashion.