Politics: humiliation

By Richard North - December 17, 2021

So, the Lib-Dems have done it, with local girl Helen Morgan polling 17,957 votes to take the seat with a majority of 5,925. This was against Birmingham lawyer Neil Shastri-Hurst, the Conservative candidate who told voters that he would be “putting North Shropshire first” against a backdrop of Castle Street in Shrewsbury, which isn’t even in the constituency.

If for no other reason than for their arrogance in parachuting an outsider into an intensely loyal rural seat, the Conservatives deserved to lose but, of course, the Lib-Dem victory goes far deeper than this, striking directly at prime minister Johnson, demonstrating with brutal clarity that he has lost his winning touch.

Johnson is now fatally wounded and, even if he does rally and linger on, his days as prime minister are numbered. I will write a more detailed report this evening.