What's behind the reduced majority in Old Bexley and Sidcup?

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

News, Politics, Government, Daily News

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🗓️ 3 December 2021

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

The by-election last night was a result for the Tories. However, their majority for this seat fell dramatically. Labour tried to badge it as good news for them, claiming that they are 'back in business'. But the poor voter turnout was more likely the reason for the fall in Tory votes rather than a swing in Labour's direction.

With this win, will the Conservatives move on from the difficult month they’ve had? Perhaps not with more scandals appearing. Tory peer, Michelle Mone has just been accused of racism after some leaked WhatsApp messages show that she told a man of Indian heritage that he was a ‘waste of a man’s white skin’.

Also on the podcast, the report on the 2020 Euros has concluded that there was ‘collective failure’ in the planning of the match which saw 2000 people break into the stadium illegally.

‘I think this touches again on how well-led the Metropolitan police is’ - James Forsyth

Can Cressida Dick cling onto her job this time?

Isabel Hardman is joined by Katy Balls and James Forsyth.

Subscribe to The Spectator's Evening Blend email, from Isabel Hardman and Katy Balls, for analysis of the day's political news and a summary of the best pieces from our website. Go to www.spectator.co.uk/blend to sign up.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Coffeehouse Shots is sponsored by NatWest, the bank that's helping small businesses build back better and greener.
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0:21.6	Find out more about climate support for businesses at natwest.com slash climate.
0:28.5	Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shots, the Spectator's Daily Politics Podcast.
0:33.0	I'm Isabel Hardman and I'm joined by Caterballs and James Forsyth.
0:37.3	Well, overnight we had a conservative victory in a by-election.
0:41.2	The Old Bexley and Sidcup by-election returned a Conservative MP again following the death of James Brokenshire.
0:49.1	But the Conservative majority dropped dramatically from just under 19,000 to 4,478. James, is this to be expected in the
1:00.4	midterms of the government? I think it's a decent midterm by-election result for the Tories. I think one of
1:06.5	the interesting things is that that drop in the majority is caused more by the big fall in turnout
1:12.3	than it is by the swing against the the the the Tories and I think that I think the I think
1:19.4	most stories I've spoken to this morning are are fairly happy about the result I think the turnout
1:25.1	though lots of people say look the turnout the turnout is a warning sign that our
1:29.3	base are in a grumpy move. They're not feeling energized to go out and show their support for the
1:35.0	government. I also want of the other interesting things about this result is how relatively poorly
1:40.7	reform did. This is the kind of successor to the Brexit party. You know,
1:44.7	Richard Tice, its leader stood there. You would have thought this seat would be, which voted to
1:49.2	leave quite heavily, would have been quite good territory for them. They got less than kind of
1:53.1	7% of the vote, or just under 7% of the vote. And I think that is a disappointing result for
1:59.1	them in the circumstances.
2:06.2	I mean, that will cause some soul searching because after the month the government has had,
	...

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