Gloomy pundits had predicted Rishi Sunak would lose all three by-elections.
Channelling their inner Mystic Megs, they said there was no way The Conservatives could hang on.
Former leader of the conservatives Michael Howard
It would be a triple whammy of defeats. A sign of a party on the way out of government and destined to head into exile on the Opposition benches.
Well, it didn’t turn out that way.
Yes the results were disappointing in Selby & Ainsty and Somerton and Frome, Tory seats which we lost.
But we defied the odds to hang on in Boris Johnson’s old seat of Uxbridge, and we should take heart from that.
What lessons should we take away from the byelections? I think there are two.
First – that Labour can be beaten by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party even in their own backyard of London.
Second – that we should stick with Rishi Sunak. The party should rally around him, support him, and go into the next election with him.
I believe there is still a narrow path to a Conservative majority at the next election. Uxbridge proved that.
When Labour’s policies are put under the microscope their flaws become obvious.
And voters are not particularly taken with Sir Keir Starmer. He is no Tony Blair.
They know that Starmer is a man who has flip flopped on almost every decision he has made.
It was only a few short years ago that he stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeremy Corbyn asking for your votes. If we had listened to Starmer, Corbyn would be in No10 right now as our Prime Minister.
I shudder to think what the response of a Corbyn government would have been to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Would it have led the world in tough sanctions and sending military kit and aid like this Conservative government has? Of course not.
Voters also know that in Rishi we have a leader who can take the hard decisions, even when they are not universally popular. Just look at his tough but necessary decisions on public sector pay.
He has a firm grasp on the public’s finances. Afterall, this is a man who was Chancellor and steered UK plc through the Covid lockdowns and came up with the furlough scheme.
There is no one better to be in No10 during this cost of living crisis.
By-elections are always a chance for voters – fed up with a government midterm – to give it a bit of a kicking. That happened on Thursday night.
But when it comes to a general election things will be different. Then people will be voting to decide who should be Prime Minister.
They will vote on who they trust to govern Britain in these challenging times.
I was pleased to see that my colleagues in the Conservative Party refrained from turning on their leader after the byelection results.
Jacob Rees-Mogg – no fawning cheerleader for Rishi – said the party should rally behind the PM and his priorities and try to win the next election.
He is right. This is what we must do.
We cannot afford any more in-fighting or feuding.
Rishi is the only Tory who can win the next election.
He is the man to stay the course.
