Tories lose some more: Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire by-elections ‘one of worst nights any government has endured’

The results from Tamworth and Mid-Bedfordshire represent one of the worst by-election nights that any government has had to endure.

In Tamworth, the 23.9% swing from Conservative to Labour was the second highest in post-war by-election history. No government has previously lost so safe a seat – the Conservatives had a 42% majority in 2019 – to the principal opposition party in a by-election contest.

Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire by-elections ‘one of worst nights any government has endured’, BBC News

It is almost as if the country is waking up to the idea that almost anyone is better than the Tories.

Read the full BBC News story.

Here are the results in graphical form – thanks to the BBC.

If this loss rate carries over into the general election the Sunak’s Conservatives could face utter humiliation. I am okay with this.

Leading businessman quits Tories after 40 years over anti-business attitude

Iain Anderson, the founder of the public relations from Cicero, said he was switching to Labour also in part because of the Conservatives’ plan to stoke a culture war against vulnerable groups.

Mr Anderson, who was named the government’s “LGBT business champion” in 2021, told the Financial Times the Tories were “not the party it used to be”, adding: “I can’t defend it.”

Leading businessman quits Tories after 40 years over anti-business approach [MSN/The Independent]

Tory ministers accused of five-star lifestyle and using public money “like a cash machine”

The Guardian is reporting that Labour plans to release a dossier tomorrow that will show that the Tories have been treating the public like their own personal cash machine. They have, it is reported, been living it up with luxury travel and five-star hotels.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are worrying about how we will pay for food and heating.

Read The Guardian article here

Starmer says Sunak is leading a party “addicted to sleaze and scandal” (The Independent)

Keir Starmer accused Rishi Sunak of leading a party that has an “addiction to sleaze and scandal.”

The Labour leader made the comments during a heated PMQs session on Wednesday, 1 February.

He said the economy was “shrinking faster” than Mr Sunak’s leadership and the justice system lets “murderers walk the streets.”

Sir Starmer also raised questions on his handling of former Tory party chairman Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs.

The prime minister accused Sir Starmer of taking the side of “extremist protesters and union bosses.”

Starmer says Sunak is leading a party “addicted to sleaze and scandal”, The Independent, YouTube

Is Sunak still collecting Russia-related blood money?

In March of 2022, The Guardian reported that Sunak’s wife was profiting from Russian money. Are they still collecting Russian blood money?

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is under mounting pressure over accusations that his wife, Akshata Murthy, is collecting “bloody money” in dividends from a family company that has refused to pull out of Russia, despite Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats are calling on Sunak to answer “very serious questions” over Murthy’s estimated $900m (£690m) stake in the IT services and consultancy company Infosys.

Sunak under pressure over wife’s Russia-related ‘blood money’ dividends, The Guardian)

Calls for Liz Truss not to take yearly £115,000 as ex-prime minister

Sir Keir Starmer has called on Liz Truss not to claim an allowance of up to £115,000 a year that she would be entitled to after resigning as PM.

Liz Truss announced her resignation from the lectern outside No 10 on Thursday after just 45 days in the job.

It means she will now be able to claim the Public Duty Costs Allowance (PDCA), currently set at £115,000, to which all former prime ministers are entitled.

But the Labour leader said she had “not earned the right” to the allowance.

BBC News