Elections in the UK. Looks like Conservatives and Scottish Independence made the most gains.
Many eyes were on Hartlepool, Labor MP Jim MacMahon concedes defeat in the Hartlepool by-election. Tells SkyNews
"It's pretty clear from the way the ballots are landing that we are not close to winning this despite our best endeavors."
LONDON — For an ordinary politician, heading into midterm elections on an unsavory plume of scandal over cellphone contacts with billionaires and a suspiciously funded apartment makeover might seem like the recipe for a thumping. But Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain is not an ordinary politician.
As voters in the country go to the polls on Thursday for regional and local elections that have been swollen by races postponed from last year because of the pandemic, Mr. Johnson’s Conservative Party stands to make gains against a Labour Party that has struggled to make the ethical accusations against him stick.
Far from humbling a wayward prime minister, the elections could extend a realignment in British politics that began in 2019 when the Conservative Party won a landslide general election victory. That would put the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, on the back foot and ratify Mr. Johnson’s status as a kind of political unicorn.
“No politician in the democratic West can escape the consequences of political gravity forever, but Boris Johnson has shown a greater capacity to do it than most,” said Tony Travers, a professor of politics at the London School of Economics. “People see his behavior as evidence of his authenticity.”
- Any global lessons for other coming elections?
- Is conventional wisdom about midterms dead?
- Was it a jinx from all the "Im moving to the UK for the politics" takes?