British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government lost two strategic parliamentary seats on Friday, but unexpectedly retained Boris Johnson’s former electoral stronghold, creating a setback for the main opposition Labor Party, Reuters reported.

The vote was one of the last electoral tests before a general election expected next year and was seen as an indicator of the prospects of the two main parties.

The Conservatives retained Johnson’s former seat by less than 500 votes, a huge relief for Sunak, who narrowly avoided becoming the first British leader in more than 50 years to lose three by-elections on the same day

Sunak, a former finance minister and ex-investment banker, has sought to use his technocratic leadership to restore credibility to the Tories after a series of scandals last year forced Boris Johnson to resign and economic woes forced his successor, Liz Truss, to resign only after six weeks.

With persistently high inflation, economic stagnation, rising taxes and mortgage rates, industrial unrest and long waiting times to use the state’s health services, the Tories were poised to lose all three electoral races.

In a surprise result, the Conservative Party retained its seat in Uxbridge and South Ruaslip following Johnson’s shock decision to quit parliament last month after he was found to have made false statements about the party in Downing Street during the coronavirus pandemic.

In his victory speech, former postman Steve Tuckwell, who won the seat, said his party’s victory was down to local factors, noting that the Labor mayor of London had expanded the low-emission zone to include suburban areas such as Uxbridge.

Other results showed the Conservatives were vulnerable on two fronts: losing one seat in the rural north of England, where they have done well in the past, and one seat in the south-west, a traditional stronghold.

Labor defeated Selby and Ainstye over the Tories by 4,000 votes after Johnson’s ally resigned in solidarity. The party claimed that the overturning of a majority of 20,137 votes in the last general election was the largest majority the party had overturned in a by-election since the Second World War.

In Somerton and Frome, in southwest England, the centre-right Liberal Democrats managed to overturn a Conservative majority of 19,213 votes after a third MP resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment and cocaine use.

John Curtis, Britain’s leading sociologist, said that based on Labour’s results, the party was unlikely to win an undisputed majority at the next election.

Curtis said Labour’s defeat in Uxbridge showed the “potential fragility” of the party’s poll lead, while the Tories were vulnerable in the southern regions.

The leaders of the two main political parties “have a lot to think about in light of these results,” he said. (news.ro)