‘As Long as the Party Embraces Trump, It’s Going to Have Trouble’

Sarah Green takes formerly safe Buckinghamshire seat despite senior Tories’ canvassing

The Liberal Democrats have pulled off an extraordinary victory in the Buckinghamshire constituency of Chesham and Amersham, taking the formerly safe seat from the Tories in a byelection.

In a shock result, the Lib Dem Sarah Green secured 21,517 votes, leaving the Conservative Peter Fleet trailing with 13,489, and giving the Lib Dems a majority of 8,028.

The contest was called after the death of the local MP Cheryl Gillan, who had represented the constituency since 1992 and held it in 2019 with a majority of 16,223.

Ed Davey’s party will hope the surprise win shows that a swath of seats across the home counties could be within their grasp at the next general election.

Davey said his party secured a huge swing of 25 points to win Chesham and Amersham, claiming: “The Tory ‘blue wall’ is beginning to crumble … This is a huge victory for the Liberal Democrats. The people of Chesham and Amersham have sent a shockwave through British politics.

“We were told it was impossible for any party to beat the Tories here in Buckinghamshire. We were told this seat was too safe and the Tories too strong. This Liberal Democrat win has proved them utterly wrong.”

 

Ed Davey MP 

@EdwardJDavey

Congratulations to @SarahGreenLD who has just sent a shockwave through British politics. If @libdems can beat the Tories here, we can beat them anywhere. The blue wall can be smashed by @libdems

Green said she was “humbled by the faith you have placed in me” and promised she would hold the government to account.

This Conservative party has taken people across the country for granted for far too long,” she said.

Speaking on Friday morning, the policing and crime minister, Kit Malthouse, said the result was very disappointing and that there would be “significant post-match analysis” to discover what went wrong.

He denied, however, that the Tory party was ignoring its traditional home counties supporters in favour of creating a new base in the north of England and said it was common for governments to lose byelections.

“It’s worth pointing out that only just a month ago we had fantastic results across the home counties and local elections,” he told Sky News. “So there’s some complex things going on there which people need to understand and no doubt people at party headquarters will be focusing on the result and trying to understand how we can win Chesham and Amersham back at the next opportunity.

“It’s tough and disappointing as I say. We would have hoped for a better result … can’t pretend anything otherwise but we’ve seen this byelection phenomenon in the past. Our job now is to win back the trust and the people in that lovely part of Buckinghamshire.”

Senior Conservative figures including the party co-chair Amanda Milling had poured into Chesham and Amersham to canvass in recent days, determined to show that the “blue wall” across the home counties remains intact.

This Conservative party has taken people across the country for granted for far too long,” she said.

Speaking on Friday morning, the policing and crime minister, Kit Malthouse, said the result was very disappointing and that there would be “significant post-match analysis” to discover what went wrong.