New show in town for disgruntled Conservative voters

WHATEVER Rishi Conservatives selling, the voters aren't buying it. The are latest epic by-election defeats in Wellingborough and Kingswood are yet more signposts toward the brutal general election beating that lies ahead.

- Patrick O'Flynn

Not only did Keir Starmer's Labour sail through its recent difficulties over a green policy U-turn and antisemitism in the ranks to comfortably win both seats, but the Reform UK party also surged to double-figure vote shares.

it is that Sunak's And the right-wing newcomer did this without once deploying the ace up its sleeve, Nigel Farage. There was no Farage campaign visit in either seat, but a supporting cast of current leader Richard Tice and his key lieutenants was able to double its previous best byelection vote share.

Plug Farage back into the equation there are strong rumours that he will take over the reins of Reform in the autumn and there is every reason to think it can double that vote share again, hitting 20 per cent or more. The most pertinent question now is not whether the Tories will lose the general election - of course they will but whether they can hang on to the mantle of being the main right-of-centre party in British politics.

AFTER failing to combat illegal immigration and trebling legal immigration instead of reducing it as promised, they have alienated habitual voters on one of the totemic issues of our age.