Mid Beds: the by-election where there’s no current vacancy
Because I’m almost a local – I live about a mile and a half from the constituency – I’m getting a fair number of questions asking for my thoughts on the possible by-election in Mid-Beds. This is, of course, the seat where Nadine Dorries has been MP since GE2010 and the person who announced on June 9th that she was quitting as an MP with “immediate effect”.
That was in expectation that she was being given a peerage in Johnson’s resignation honours. Well that didn’t happen and Nadine has not resigned as MP.
Even so there is a fair amount of activity taking place with both the LDs and LAB working hard.
Nadine is launching a book, The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson, on the eve of Sunak’s first leader’s speech to his party conference and this would seem to be a good moment for her to make her intentions clear.
The best guide to what might happen in the by-election that might not happen should come on Friday morning with the results from the three by-elections that are taking place. This will give us a good idea of how the parties are doing. Can LAB take both Uxbridge and Selby and what will be the swing. Same goes for the LDs in the other contest.