What next for Boris Johnson after double by-election blow?

Boris Johnson’s authority has suffered a double blow as the Tories suffered humiliating defeats in two parliamentary by-elections. Wakefield was won by the Tories in 2019 with a majority of 3,358 after being a Labour seat since the 1930s – albeit one that had become fairly marginal – so Simon Lightwood’s 4,925 vote victory is not a seismic shock. But Tiverton and Honiton had been won with a majority of more than 24,000 – former MP Neil Parish had more than 60% of the vote – so the victory for the Liberal Democrats’ Richard Foord represents a political earthquake.