Spread of Tory losses leads former minister to say there’s ‘no such thing as a safe seat any more’
The Conservatives are facing one of their worst local election results in 40 years, with striking Labour gains across England and Wales in key battlegrounds they need to secure victory at the general election.
The spread of the Conservative losses led one former minister to claim there was “no such thing really as a safe Tory seat any more”, but the prime minister appeared committed to clinging on until polling day, with rebels in his own party lacking the support to oust him.
The polling expert Prof John Curtice of Strathclyde University said the results added up to “one of the worst, if not the worst” performances by the Conservatives in four decades.
The party is expected to lose up to 500 seats when all votes are counted, with Labour advancing in areas of both the “red wall” north won by the Tories under Boris Johnson and the traditional southern Conservative heartlands.
In hindsight I could have phrased it better, but I meant PMs who were elected.
Boris Johnson was elected in 2019.
Liz Truss replaced him but was not elected. Rishi Sunak replaced her and was also not elected.
They were all elected by the voters in their constituencies, the same as every MP, and chosen as the leader of their party by the party members, the same as every PM.
Playing musical chairs is not a typical move.