U.K.’s Johnson Wins Historic By-Election on Brexit, Vaccine Bump
- Hartlepool swings to Conservatives from Labour for first time
- Result likely to intensify pressure on Labour leader Starmer
This article is for subscribers only.
Boris Johnson’s ruling U.K. Conservatives won a crushing victory in the parliamentary district of Hartlepool, riding a wave of local support from Brexit and the successful Covid-19 vaccine rollout to deal a major blow to the prime minister’s chief political rival.
The result in Hartlepool, which had voted Labour every time since the seat’s creation in 1974, is a huge boost for Johnson and shows support for the Conservative Party remains resilient despite the government coming under fire over its early handling of the pandemic and a recent slew of allegations against its integrity and competence.