British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a double blow as voters rejected his Conservative Party in two special elections dominated by questions about his leadership and ethics.
The party's chairman quit after the results early Friday, saying the party "cannot carry on with business as usual."
Defeat in either district would have been a setback for the prime minister's party. Losing both increases jitters among restive Conservatives who already worry the ebullient but erratic and divisive Johnson is no longer an electoral asset. The prime minister was 4,000 miles away at a Commonwealth summit in Rwanda as the results were announced.
Thursday's elections were tests on both fronts. Rural Tiverton and Honiton has voted Conservative for generations, while Wakefield is a northern district that the Tories won in 2019 from Labour.
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