Boris Johnson 'Takes Personal Responsibility' for North Shropshire By-Election Fiasco

On 17 December, the UK's ruling Conservative Party lost the North Shropshire seat to the Liberal Democrats in a parliamentary by-election.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he takes personal responsibility for the election results in North Shropshire.

"Clearly the vote in North Shropshire is a very disappointing result and I totally understand people's frustrations. I hear what the voters are saying in North Shropshire and in all humility I have got to accept that verdict," Boris Johnson said.

"Of course I take personal responsibility," he added.

Hours after the Tories suffered a shock by-election loss in North Shropshire, UK Conservative Party Chairman Oliver James Dowden said that voters were "fed up" and "gave us a kicking".

Dowden added that Boris Johnson was still an electoral asset and that when it comes to the big calls, the prime minister "has got it right".

UK Conservatives suffered a stumbling defeat in a traditional Conservative stronghold in central England after Liberal Democrat candidate Helen Morgan beat her rival Neil Shastri-Hurst by nearly 6,000 votes in a by-election for the North Shropshire parliamentary seat.

Thursday’s by-election in North Shropshire, a district which has voted for non-Conservative candidates only twice since it was created in 1830, was triggered by the resignation of Owen Paterson after revelations that he was using his position as a lawmaker to lobby for two firms that paid him more than £100,000 ($100,000) a year.

Recent polls have also shown that the UK prime minister is losing support among voters following a series of scandals involving the celebrations of parties in Downing Street during the COVID-19 lockdown and renewed criticism for his handling of the pandemic.