‘Disheartened, deflated, and dejected’: The death spiral continues and the Conservatives are on a distinct losing streak that’s too difficult to ignore
Former Conservative MP for Blackpool South Scott Benton wrote to Jeremy Hunt last week requesting that he be appointed to the role of Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds. Doing so disqualified Benton from the Commons with immediate effect - meaning, he’d resigned his position, although not directly, and that as a consequence it would trigger a by-election by default.
I spoke about the problem that the Conservatives will face [and some of the reasons behind it] in one of my final pieces of 2023.
Benton didn’t want to suffer the indignity of his former constituents - in one of the most impoverished constituencies in Britain - telling him that they no longer require his services as their MP any more, and so decided to avoid a recall petition altogether.
And -
Based on the current rate of trajectory, it is also expected to be another seat from 2019 that the Conservatives will lose.
The date of the by-election itself is significant.
For a start: