Markus Andrews

Lib Dem activists have a phrase for the way they attack by-election campaigns where they sense an improbable victory: shock and awe.At 4am on Friday morning in the Shrewsbury Sports Village, it felt entirely appropriate: their Conservative opponents here were utterly dazed.In what will rank as one of the most stunning by-election results ever, the yellow rosette party overturned a 23,000 Tory majority in North Shropshire to steal this supposed safest of rural blue heartlands.After a campaign in which they flooded the area with activists – in which leader Ed Davey visited five times, no less – Helen Morgan was announced as the area’s new MP with some 5,925 more votes than Tory rival Neil Shastri-Hurst.It wasn’t just a victory, as the party’s treasury spokesperson Christine Jardine noted, it was a “comfortable” one. More to the point, it was historic: Friday is the first day this area has not had a blue MP in more than a century.“Tonight, the people of North Shropshire have spoken on behalf of the British people,” said Morgan in her victory speech. “They have said loudly and clearly: ‘Boris Johnson, the party is over’.”This was not, as it turned out, a speech that was five minutes of platitudes. The 46-year-old used her first platform as a parliamentarian to go firmly on the attack. She spoke of an NHS “teetering” on the brink; of local people struggling to make ends meet; and of a prime minister more interested in decorating his flat than the good of the country. It was yet more shock and awe.“Your government, run on lies and bluster, will be held accountable,” she said. “It will be scrutinised, it will be challenged and it can and will be defeated… Mr Johnson you are no leader.”Voters here, she concluded, had been left “dismayed by Boris Johnson’s lack of decency”.In the end – astonishing as it may seem – the yellow victory was never really in doubt from the moment polls closed at 10pm on Thursday.A flurry of rumours around midnight suggested a better-than-expected showing for Labour candidate Ben Wood could deny Morgan a famous result and help the Tories retain the seat.But, as the evening progressed, it became increasingly clear that anger over perceived Downing Street sleaze and misconduct had coalesced around the yellow vote. In particular, it was noted early on, the Lib Dems appeared to have taken large numbers of postal ballots – most of which would have been cast long before last week’s revelations of a lockdown-breaking Downing Street Christmas party caused widespread public fury.“Once you factor in that anger to the remaining votes,” said David Vasmer, leader of the Lib Dems on Shropshire Council around 1am, “the numbers could be really good”.When his prediction ultimately came true – the swing was an astonishing 34 per cent; even bigger than that in Chesham and Amersham in June – he could hardly hide his excitement.“Ecstatic,” he said. “Over the moon. To end 200 years of Tory dominance is the most wonderful thing. Whatever happens now, they will never take the people of North Shropshire for granted again.”How would he celebrate? It was gone 4am, he noted. He was going home to bed.So, too, were those shell-shocked Tories. There had been party briefings all day that they might lose but no-one thought it would be this bad. A devastated-looking Shastri-Hurst headed straight for the door after the results were announced, stopping only when a media scrum made it all but impossible for him to escape without comment.A “disappointing” result, he said, but he was “proud” of the campaign. Was Boris Johnson to blame for the defeat? He declined to offer a yes or a no. So, too, did Edward Timpson, the Tory MP for nearby Eddisbury. “We have to reflect on what we have been told on the doorstep,” he told The Independent. He was slouched and gloomy, and clutching a coffee that, frankly, didn’t look strong enough.Vince Hunt, the Tory chair of Shropshire Council, was less diplomatic. “He [Boris] has to sit down and have a long hard think about his future,” he declared. It was an early call for a possible leadership change – but it seems probable many more will follow in the days to come.Not, Hunt said, that Boris was solely to blame. Who else? “The media!” he declared. “Too much focus on the negatives of what happened a year ago and not enough focus on what has gone right, on how the government has got a lot of things right in this pandemic.”It was, as one might say, a view point.Yet, perhaps, ultimately, it is too simplistic to see this as a simple referendum on the prime minister or the government or even the wide range of local issues – ambulance waiting times; poor transport links – that were continually raised on the doorstep during this campaign.Perhaps this was about wider voting trends, as Green Party candidate Duncan Kerr noted with 3am astuteness. Perhaps what happened here was something similar to the decimation of the old Red Wall in 2019. “North Shropshire has been more or less a one-party state ,so to have that broken is marvellous,” he said, all smiles, despite a relatively poor poll showing himself. “It shows that politics is changing. People here – and across the country – have voted the same way for generations because of tradition or history or fear of the unknown. Now those days are gone. They have broken the habit of voting Conservative here and I think that will stay broken now.” More

The Lib Dems have won the North Shropshire by-election in what ranks as one of the most astonishing British electoral results ever.Helen Morgan took the seat with 17,957 votes compared to Conservative rival Neil Shastri-Hurst’s 12,032.It comes just two years after the Conservatives won the seat with a 23,000 majority; and means the area will not have a blue MP for the first time in more than a century.The result will now raise immediate questions about Boris Johnson’s leadership of the Tory party – with many local activists blaming a series of Downing Street scandals and missteps for the horror result.Speaking after she was announced as the victor at Shrewsbury Sports Village, Ms Morgan – who lives in the constituency village of Harmer Hill – said the result sent a clear message to Mr Johnson’s government.“Tonight, the people of North Shropshire have spoken on behalf of the British people,” she said. “They have said loudly and clearly: ‘Boris Johnson, the party is over’. “Your government, run on lies and bluster, will be held accountable. It will be scrutinised, it will be challenged and it can and will be defeated.”Ms Morgan added that “thousands of lifelong” Tory voters have been left “dismayed” by the PM’s “lack of decency and [are] fed up with being taken for granted”.“Tonight the people of North Shropshire have said ‘enough is enough’. They have said you are unfit to lead and they want a change,” she said.“Thank you most of all to the people of North Shropshire, not just for support throughout this campaign but for all the hard work and sacrifices you have made throughout this past two years.”Thursday’s defeat compounds a tumultuous period for Mr Johnson after 100 Conservatives defied the leadership to vote against the introduction of mandatory Covid health passes for entry to large venues – the biggest rebellion since he entered No 10.Asked on Wednesday if Mr Johnson would quit if North Shropshire falls, the Prime Minister’s press secretary said: “We are fighting for every vote.”“This result is a watershed moment in our politics and offers hope to people around the country that a brighter future is possible,” Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said.“Millions of people are fed up with Boris Johnson and his failure to provide leadership throughout the pandemic and last night the voters of North Shorpshire spoke for all of them,” he added.“From Buckinghamshire to Shropshire, lifelong Conservatives have turned to the Liberal Democrats in their droves and sent a clear message to the Prime Minister that the party is over.”In 2019, the Tories won 62.7 per cent of the vote and held the seat with a majority of 22,949 over Labour.Ms Morgan came third with just 10 per cent of the vote when facing Mr Paterson in the general election.Ms Morgan, a 46-year-old accountant, will become the country’s newest MP having beaten Mr Shastri-Hurst, a barrister based in Birmingham.The turnout in North Shropshire was 46.3 per cent, or 38,110 voters. More

Three things about Helen Morgan perhaps had national cut-through during the North Shropshire by-election.Unfortunately for the seat’s Liberal Democrat candidate, all of those were historic social media posts. Three times in the last couple of years, the 46-year-old has compared the Conservatives to Nazis: Priti Patel to Goebbels, Boris Johnson to Hitler and Tory party policy to that which led to Auschwitz.“It’s not been helpful,” one Lib Dem activist told The Independent shortly after the missives surfaced. “We’re trying to flip 23,000 Conservative voters and you don’t do that by effectively telling them they’re Nazi supporters.”Morgan apologised, moved on and refused to be derailed.And, in doing so, perhaps showed the steely focus – as well as the willingness to admit a mistake – that led to one of the most astonishing moments in British political history on Friday morning: her victory over the Tories here.She was ultimately, that same activist said, the local asset that – following a campaign that oft-focused on the government’s incompetence – got “the party over the winning line”.Morgan – an accountant by profession – is personable, energetic and self-evidently loves the area. Because she lives here – with her husband and teenage son – she has an acute grasp of the rural issues that, say, a barrister from Birmingham does not.For her, indeed, many of those issues are personal. When voters complained about appalling ambulance waiting times, she knew exactly what they were talking about: five years ago, while suffering with severe norovirus, she was left waiting 90 minutes with ambulance paramedics because an overly-stretched A&E department had no-one to treat her. “That meant,” she said, “that ambulance couldn’t be getting to other people.”Likewise, when voters on the doorstep spoke about limited public transport, she could entirely sympathise: her home village of Harmer Hill has just two buses in a morning and two in an afternoon.Along similar lines, she is known for campaigning on rural road safety.The new MP has her weaknesses too, of course. Apart from some disquiet over the Nazi comments, many voters appeared to feel she was too inexperienced.Although she is a parish councillor, she has never sat on the larger Shropshire Council.While she and her team quickly identified a strong attack line against the Tories – that they had taken this safe seat for granted for too long – Morgan then appeared to offer only vague soundbites and fence-sitting about how she might change things.Asked by The Independent if she would like to see the A5 arterial road dualled – a divisive topic in the constituency – she said the matter wouldn’t affect her personally (“I hardly drive on it”) so she would recommend another consultancy. There have been such consultancies going on, in one form or another, since 1997.Similarly on farming issues. A series of post-Brexit trade deals had, she said, sold the region’s farmers short, yet offered no practical suggestion on what might be done better.Nonetheless, while many commentators are already putting this victory down to a flailing government, Morgan’s own role should not be forgotten.Midway through the campaign, she said she wanted to “scare” the Tory government into paying greater attention to the area. Mission accomplished. More

The Liberal Democrats have won the North Shropshire by-election, the party’s treasury spokesperson has claimed.Christine Jardine told reporters she was “confident” the yellows had “won comfortably”.A party spokesman added: “This is an amazing night for the Liberal Democrats and a disaster for Boris Johnson.”Ms Jardine hinted that the scale of candidate Helen Morgan’s win over Conservative Neil Shastri-Hurst would be in the thousands.If confirmed, it would be one of the most astonishing electoral result ever: the Conservatives had a 23,000 majority going into this contest and had held the area for more than a century.The Edinburgh West MP added: “I don’t want to put a figure on it just now but we are just delighted that we’ve listened to the voters in North Shropshire and those voters are putting their confidence in us.“People who are fed up, people who are tired and who are angry at the way this Government has behaved know now that they have an alternative. Conservative MPs right across those ‘Blue Wall’ seats will be looking over their shoulders.“The Conservatives had a majority… Owen Paterson had a majority of more than 20,000. We’ve turned that round tonight – turned it round comfortably. That’s astonishing. We think we’ve won and won comfortably.”The turnout was 46.3 per cent, or 38,110 voters. That’s considerably up on the 33.5 per cent that turned up for the Old Bexley and Sidcup by-election earlier this month. However, it is significantly lower than the 2019 general election turnout in the constituency of 62.9 per cent. The candidates – and senior Tories – will not learn the definitive result until it is announced in the early hours of Friday.Not only was the vote triggered by a Tory sleaze scandal, it comes after the prime minister was battered by allegations of lockdown-breaching parties in Downing Street last Christmas. In a message to Mr Johnson this morning, Ms Jardine said: “The party is over.”And the prime minister’s efforts to defend the seat followed the massive rebellion Conservative backbenchers dealt him on Tuesday over his new coronavirus restrictions as the Omicron variant surged.Mr Paterson represented the constituency for 24 years until his resignation after Mr Johnson’s botched attempt to shield him from a 30-day suspension. The prime minister attempted to force a Tory-led review of the rules for MPs after Mr Paterson was found to have breached lobbying rules for two companies paying him £100,000 a year.Multiple fresh allegations of sleaze were levelled at the Tories during the row and ultimately the MP was forced to resign, saying he wanted to escape the “cruel world of politics”.North Shropshire has returned a Tory MP in every vote since 1983, which was the constituency’s first election in its current form. But the area has been true blue, only twice voting for another colour, since the Conservative Party’s inception in 1830.So a loss for Conservative candidate Neil Shastri-Hurst to Lib Dem Helen Morgan would be a major upset for the Tories.Bookmakers have put the Lib Dems as favourite for victory, while campaigners on the ground suggested the result was too close to call and leader Sir Ed Davey described it as a “coin toss”.Defeat would compound a torrid period for Mr Johnson after 100 Conservatives defied the leadership to vote against the introduction of mandatory Covid health passes for entry to large venues – the biggest rebellion since he entered No 10.Asked on Wednesday if Mr Johnson would quit if North Shropshire falls, the Prime Minister’s press secretary said: “We are fighting for every vote.” More

The UK has finally signed a trade deal with Australia – the first with a new partner since Brexit – but it will add just 0.08 per cent to the economy and not until 2035.The agreement will scrap tariffs on UK exports, allow young backpackers to visit for longer and give greater certainty to scientists, lawyers and other professionals seeking visas, ministers say.But the signing – six months after an outline deal was announced by Boris Johnson – is certain to trigger criticism that British farmers are being sacrificed in the desperation to agree it.Liberal Democrats warned it would lead to farmers being undermined by imports produced to lower standards of animal welfare and environmental protection. And the TUC said it amounted to a “threat to working people while contributing almost nothing to our economy”.Tariffs will be scrapped immediately on imported beef and lamb, up to a “cap” on sales expected to be many times the current level of Australian meat sold in this country.There is also anger over the UK secretly dropping a pledge to bind Australia to the 1.5C global temperature rise target at the heart of the Cop26 climate negotiations in Glasgow, last month.The Independent understands that the agreement – which will now finally be published – will contain no specific reference to a 1.5C rise, beyond which the world is at risk from runaway climate change.The head of the advisory climate change committee, Tory peer John Gummer, has condemned the deal for undermining climate goals. Officials admit to “pressure” on shipping emissions.There are also fears that beef from farms where forests with endangered species are destroyed will end up in the UK, although beef injected with hormones will be outlawed.Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, called the signing “a landmark moment” and proof of what the UK “can achieve as an agile, independent sovereign trading nation”.“This agreement is tailored to the UK’s strengths, and delivers for businesses, families and consumers in every part of the UK – helping us to level up,” she said.But Greenpeace warned of the danger of “kicking off a race to the bottom for our environmental standards and for action on climate”.“What people will want to know is whether this trade deal will stop beef from farms involved in destroying habitats for koalas and other endangered species from reaching our supermarket shelves,” said John Sauven, the group’s executive director.The government says the agreement is expected to:* Boost gross domestic product (GDP) by £2.3bn a year, or 0.08 per cent, by 2035 – a tiny fraction of the 4 per cent slump from leaving the EU single market and customs union.* Boost trade by £10.4bn by the same date – a 53 per cent increase – of which £6.2bn will be UK exports to Australia.* Increase sales of cars, Scotch whisky and UK fashion, for example, by removing tariffs.Officials dismiss fears of Australian meat flooding the UK market, threatening domestic farmers, on the grounds that the country’s target markets will continue to be in Asia.But TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: ”This deal poses a threat to working people while contributing almost nothing to our economy.“Yet again the UK government has agreed a trade deal with no effective means to enforce fundamental labour rights or protections for migrant workers from exploitation. “And there are other serious issues which could threaten workers’ rights and conditions, like the failure to protect our public services and the lack of safeguards for how workers’ data or NHS data is used.”Liberal Democrat rural affairs spokesperson Tim Farron said that the deal “fails to protect our farmers in the long term”.  He added: “The Conservatives make promises of transitions, but all that means is delaying the inevitable – our farming communities being undermined by imported food that is produced to lower standards of animal welfare and environmental protection.” More

Rishi Sunak insisted the government was “not closing down businesses” today as he cut short a trip to California amid a growing backlash from firms demanding more state support to weather a sharp rise in Covid cases.The chancellor resisted calls for more help as businesses reported an alarming drop-off in trade in response to the rapid spread of the omicron variant. He pointed to existing measures including business rates relief, a reduced rate of VAT and around £250m available through local authorities.“My immediate priority is to make sure that money gets to those businesses as quickly as possible,” he told US broadcasters. “I appreciate that it is a difficult time for the hospitality industry, that’s why I was on the phone earlier today with various industry leaders from the hospitality space.”The chancellor brought forward his return flight from California after facing mounting criticism that he was not in the country to oversee the financial response to a rapidly deteriorating situation.Industry groups issued a desperate plea for help during crisis meetings with senior Treasury officials on Thursday, expressing frustration that the government’s increasingly bleak public health messaging has not been matched with economic assistance.The chancellor is understood to have held one-on-one talks with three senior hospitality industry figures on Thursday but no package of state help for the sector has yet been announced. More

People were prosecuted and fined up to £1,100 for illegal gatherings on the same day as Downing Street’s Christmas quiz last year, court documents show.Boris Johnson helped host the event, which took place virtually but allegedly saw quiz teams gather in person inside government offices.London was under tier 2 coronavirus restrictions at the time, meaning there could be no mixing of households indoors other than for work or another reason listed as a legal exemption.The Metropolitan Police has so far refused to investigate the quiz but other gatherings on the same date, 15 December 2020, resulted in fines and prosecutions.A 25-year-old woman was fined £1,100 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court earlier this month, after being found to have “participated in a gathering, which was indoors and consisted of two or more people, in the tier 2 area of London” that day.Prashanthi Bhupathiraju, of Woolwich, was not present to argue her case and had no defence lawyer, but a court document said an offence was found “proved” and the fine must be paid by 29 December. The hearing took place behind closed doors under the controversial single justice procedure, which sees cases decided by a single magistrate, advised by a professional lawyer, based on written evidence provided by the police. The same procedure was used to fine a 49-year-old man over an “indoor gathering” in Wembley on 15 December 2020. Abdulkadir Sharif Mohamed pleaded guilty and was handed a smaller penalty of £200 as a result.At least three women, all aged in their 20s, were fined £1,100 each after attending house parties on the same day as the 18 December 2020 Downing Street Christmas party.None of them had pleaded guilty, and the charges were again found proved at closed single justice procedure hearings at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.Cabinet secretary Simon Case has been tasked with investigating alleged gatherings or parties held in government buildings during restrictions, which include a leaving do on 27 November 2020 where the prime minister made a speech.Tory minister suggests Christmas quiz wasn’t party because there was ‘no alcohol’Several other people were prosecuted and fined £1,100 for parties in London during December last year, including a 44-year-old man caught at a gathering in Barking after the tier 4 restrictions were imposed, and a 20-year-old woman who went to a New Year’s Eve party in Croydon.The Independent has seen court records showing prosecutions and fines for gatherings last December across the country, including in Hampshire, Norfolk and parts of Wales. In single justice procedure cases, defendants are notified of the charge by post with a statement setting out the facts of the offence and guidance on what steps to take.They have the option to plead guilty or ask for a court hearing. If they plead guilty or do not respond within a 21-day time limit, their case will be dealt with through the single justice procedure.Cases processed under the controversial scheme are not covered by a Crown Prosecution Service review of coronavirus charges, which has found around a third to be unlawful so far.A letter delivered to the justice secretary earlier this year warned that hundreds or “likely thousands” of people have been convicted for coronavirus offences in their absence, or even without realising as a result. More

The Department for Transport has apologised after admitting that staff working for cabinet minister Grant Shapps held a Christmas party while strict Covid curbs were still in place last year.Government staff were “boozing and dancing” at an event in Whitehall on December 16, according to The Mirror – the same day London was moved into tier 3 restrictions.Mr Shapps’ spokesman said the transport secretary did not attend and had “absolutely no idea” the festive gathering was taking place at the departmental office.The minister’s spokesperson said: “He was not notified or invited and would have banned such a gathering forthwith, had he been made aware that it was being prepared.”Staff reportedly drank alcohol, danced and takeaway food on the day tier 3 curbs banned all mixing indoors with anyone outside of your household or support bubble.“Fewer than a dozen staff who were working in the office had a low-key, socially distanced, gathering in the large open-plan office after work on the 16th December, where food and drink was consumed,” said a spokesperson for the transport department.The spokesperson added: “We recognise this was inappropriate and apologise for the error of judgement.”It comes as a joint investigation by The Independent and The Guardian revealed that a gathering took place at Downing Street last May during the first lockdown.Boris Johnson joined staff at a reception described by a source as “a party” on 15 May and told one attendee they deserved a drink for “beating back” the virus, The Independent has been told.It is understood that about 20 civil servants and advisers gathered inside No 10 and its garden, when gatherings indoors were strictly forbidden and people from different households were restricted to one-on-one meetings outdoors.Labour accused Mr Johnson of overseeing “a culture” of rule-breaking at No 10, while the SNP responded by calling for Mr Johnson to resign – saying he had lost all authority to deliver Covid guidance.Lib Dem chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said it was now time for “an official and independent inquest into how many times Downing Street officials – and the prime minister himself – may have broken lockdown rules”.A No 10 spokesperson said: “On 15 May 2020 the prime minister held a series of meetings throughout the afternoon, including briefly with the then health and care secretary and his team in the garden following a press conference.”They added: “The prime minister went to his residence shortly after 7pm. A small number of staff required to be in work remained in the Downing Street garden for part of the afternoon and evening.”It comes as the Metropolitan Police revealed it is contacting two people who attended a Christmas party at the Conservative HQ over alleged breaches of Covid laws.The force said it was aware of the gathering on 14 December last year. “Officers will be making contact with two people who attended in relation to alleged breaches of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) Regulations,” a spokesperson said.Former mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey was photographed with his staff at a party at Tory HQ in the run-up to last Christmas. The London Assembly member has apologised for attending the festive bash, admitting it was “a serious error of judgment”. More