Tory MP warns Boris Johnson faces 'difficult questions' as Labour hails local elections results as a 'turning point'
- Labour seized three significant councils in London in Thursday's local elections.
- Labour hailed the results so far as a "turning point" while the Tories say those gains are not that significant.
Labour has hailed the results of the local elections in England as a "turning point" for the party as it took control of three key councils in London.
But the Conservatives say the results, although "challenging," are consistent with expectations for how voters respond to a government in power since 2010.
Oliver Dowden, co-chair of the Conservative Party, told Sky News that Labour was "certainly not on the path to power."
However, the opposition party took control of Barnet, Wandsworth, and even Westminster council itself, with a spokesperson claiming the victory showed the party's progress in regaining "the trust of Jewish voters" after multiple accusations of anti-Semitism against the Labour Party under former leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Beyond London, Labour won the newly-formed Cumberland council, whose three local MPs are all Conservative.
"The Workington Man has voted Labour," the Labour Party spokesperson said, referencing one of the archetypal voters of the 2019 general election who supported the Conservatives to get Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government elected.
Johnson now faces more pressure to his leadership, with Conservative MPs fearing the party's poor showing in the south of England will be reflected in parliamentary contests. MPs have told Insider they were waiting for the local election results before considering their next steps.
David Simmonds is the Conservative MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, which borders Johnson's own seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
He told the BBC that Johnson had "some difficult questions to answer," saying that the "partygate" scandal of lockdown-breaching parties in Downing Street, for which Johnson has received a fine from the police, had come up on the doorstep.
Theresa May's former chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, said the loss of "flagship councils" Wandsworth and Westminster should be a "wake up call to the Conservative Party."
But not all candidates sought to blame the Conservative Party's leadership for their local election woes.
One Tory candidate in Barnet criticised the media, saying: "The press killed Diana".