Labour have won the Mid Bedfordshire byelection, overturning a huge majority and delivering a significant blow to Rishi Sunak’s hopes of holding on to power at the next general election – expected to be in 2024. Alistair Strathern takes the parliamentary seat vacated by the former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, beating the candidate hoping to hold it for the Conservatives, Festus Akinbusoye. Strathern overturned a majority of 24,664 – believed to be the greatest such result at a byelection since at least 1945. It boosts the leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, who will see this victory – and that in another Tory safe seat in Tamworth on the same night – as further evidence his party is poised to return to government after similar byelection victories in recent months. Strathern also held off competition from the Liberal Democrats, who refused to cede ground to Labour, insisting they had a genuine chance of winning the seat themselves. Speaking as the results were announced, Starmer said: “Voters across Mid Bedfordshire, Tamworth and Britain want a Labour government determined to deliver for working people, with a proper plan to rebuild our country. “To those who have given us their trust, and those considering doing so, Labour will spend every day acting in your interests and focused on your priorities. Labour will give Britain its future back.”
The new Labour MP for Mid Bedfordshire said that in victory on Friday morning, his party had delivered a “historic message [and] historic moment”. He said: “Tonight, residents across Mid Bedfordshire have made history. After decades of being taken for granted, feeling left behind, being underrepresented, they made a decision it was time for a change. Nowhere is off limits for this Labour party and tonight’s result proves it.” He claimed the party’s victory had become possible because it had changed under Starmer’s leadership. Strathern polled 13,872 votes; giving Labour a majority of 1,192 over the Conservatives, who got 12,680. The Liberal Democrats were third with 9,420 votes.
The byelection was triggered by the resignation of Dorries, who was upset at not being given a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list. She had been a staunch ally to Johnson until the last, and kicked off a fractious row within the Tory party over the protracted nature of her resignation. Dorries said she would stand down as an MP with immediate effect in early June. However, she later refused to do so until she was given an explanation for the lack of a peerage. It was not until 26 August – more than 11 weeks after she initially said she would – that Dorries formally resigned. She has insisted Sunak blocked a peerage she believed she was about to be awarded by Johnson – an allegation the current prime minister has denied. Sunak, in turn, accused Dorries of failing to properly represent her constituents. The lengthy delay, and the increasing sense in some quarters that Dorries was an absentee MP, opened an avenue for rival parties to overturn the huge majority. Much of the campaigning focused on what opposition parties portrayed as the Tories’ poor record in government. Labour said many residents had told them they felt they had been taken for granted by the ruling party. Illustrating the strength of feeling, some said Dorries was “never here and is as useful as a chocolate teapot”, while “Dosser Dorries” posters appeared in the area. In August one voter told the Guardian: “I always had respect for Nadine. But, over the last few years, the fact that she’s nowhere to be seen has left a sour taste in my mouth.”