Labour defeat Tories in by-elections, Tory party chair resigns

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Britain's Labor Party has won the Wakefield by-election, and has regained the seat it lost to the Tories in the 2019 elections.

Labor candidate Simon Lightwood defeated Conservative candidate Nadeem Ahmed by 4,925 votes, garnering 13,166 votes.

The elections took place following the resignation of an ex-Conservative MP, Imran Ahmad Khan, who was convicted in May of sexual assault against a 15-year-old boy in 2008. Wakefield had been held by the Labor party since the 1930s prior to Khan winning the election in 2019.

Shortly after the announcement was made in Wakefield, Conservatives lost Tiverton and Honiton in Devon to the Liberal Democrats.

Tory leader resigns

Oliver Dowden, the Tories' party chair decided to resign from his position following these losses, saying that someone must "take responsibility" for the "very poor result" for the Conservative party.

My letter of resignation to the Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/xd5MtM2o3n

— Oliver Dowden (@OliverDowden) June 24, 2022

In the letter he wrote to PM Boris Johnson, Dowden said “our supporters are distressed and disappointed by recent events, and I share their feelings.

“We cannot carry on with business as usual. Somebody must take responsibility and I have concluded that, in these circumstances, it would not be right for me to remain in office.”

Johnson has been grappling with calls to resign after a series of leaks showed that several social gatherings were held at his offices throughout 2020 and 2021, flouting Covid-19 social distancing rules, which later became known as the Partygate scandal. The scandal gravely affected his party's standing.

The Conservative Party also lost key London council seats back in May, as faith in the party has weaned over the past year.