Labour and UKIP both give Tories cause for delight
With one front closed and an enfeebled opposition, Theresa May can turn to the Lib Dems
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By Bagehot
IT IS a measure of Labour’s sorry state these days that losing just one of two seats that it has held for decades is treated as grounds for relief in the party. In the by-elections held yesterday, both triggered by the resignation from politics of centrist MPs known to despair of the party’s direction under Jeremy Corbyn, Labour held Stoke Central on a reduced vote share (37%, down from 39%) and lost Copeland to the Conservatives, whose vote share rose eight points to 44%. The Labour leader’s past opposition to nuclear power (the main employer in the Cumbria seat) and his party’s confused stance on Brexit (the seat voted to leave the EU) were both factors in the results.
More from Bagehot’s notebook
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And then there were two
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt progress to the final stage of the Tory leadership contest
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The centre cannot hold - the failure of Change UK and the atrophying of political thought
Our columnist reflects on why those trying to shake up contemporary politics have been destined to fail
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20240907151420im_/https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/sites/default/files/20190622_BLP502.jpg)
On Britain beyond Brexit and the future of Conservatism
Our columnist reflects on the turmoil facing the Conservative Party
On Change UK’s inadequacies, political agreements and missing Scots
Our Britain columnist muses over the decline of Scottish influence in Westminster
On “Fleabag”, a Corbyn government and Kenneth Clarke’s tandoori moments
Our Britain columnist laments the decline of working-class culture
On “Game of Thrones”, Conservatism, Israel and Lidl
Our political columnist pitches a dynastic new television show