2022 Tiverton and Honiton by-election

2022 Tiverton and Honiton by-election
← 2019 23 June 2022 2024 →
Tiverton and Honiton constituency
Turnout52.3% (Decrease19.6 pp)
  First party Second party
 
Official portrait of Richard Foord, 2022 (cropped).jpg
Con
Candidate Richard Foord Helen Hurford
Party Liberal Democrats Conservative
Popular vote 22,537 16,393
Percentage 52.9% 38.5%
Swing Increase38.0 pp Decrease21.7pp
MP before election

Neil Parish
Conservative

Elected MP

Richard Foord
Liberal Democrats

A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Tiverton and Honiton was held on 23 June 2022.[1] The vacancy was caused by the resignation on 4 May 2022 of the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Neil Parish of the Conservative Party,[2] following his admission to accusations that he viewed pornography on his mobile phone in the House of Commons chamber.[3][4]

The election was won by Richard Foord of the Liberal Democrats. The Conservative majority of 24,239 in the 2019 general election is thought to have been the largest majority ever overturned in a by-election.[5] It was the party's third gain from the Conservatives since the 2019 general election, following their victory at Chesham and Amersham in June 2021, and in North Shropshire in December 2021.[6]

The election was held on the same day as the Wakefield by-election in West Yorkshire,[7] which the Conservatives lost to the Labour Party.[5] This was the first time since the 1991 Kincardine and Deeside and Langbaurgh by-elections that a British government has lost two seats in by-elections on the same day.

  1. ^ Doherty, Caitlin (17 May 2022). "Wakefield by-election: Writ laid in Parliament for vote in West Yorkshire constituency". Yorkshire Post. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  2. ^ Lynch, David (4 May 2022). "Neil Parish formally resigns after admitting watching pornography in the Commons". Independent. Archived from the original on 4 May 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  3. ^ Ambrose, Tom (30 April 2022). "Tory Neil Parish to resign as MP after porn 'moment of madness'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 April 2022. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  4. ^ "Manor of Northstead". GOV.uk. 4 May 2022. Archived from the original on 4 May 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  5. ^ a b Walker, Peter (24 June 2022). "Tories lose two key byelections on same night in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton". The Guardian.
  6. ^ "Tories lose North Shropshire seat they held for nearly 200 years". BBC News. 17 December 2021. Archived from the original on 17 December 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  7. ^ Ford Rojas, John-Paul (17 May 2022). "Boris Johnson faces test as Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton by-elections triggered". Sky News. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2022.