Chesham and Amersham by-election: shock win for the Lib Dems

The Liberal Democrats have secured a resounding win in the Chesham and Amersham by-election, taking the seat off the Conservatives for the first time since it was created in 1974.

The Lib Dems won more than 56 per cent of the vote on a stunning 25 per cent swing from the Conservatives.

Lib Dem Sarah Green secured 21,517 votes, leaving the Conservative Peter Fleet with 13,489, and giving the Lib Dems a majority of 8,028. Labour candidate Natasa Pantelic trailed behind with an astonishing 622 votes.

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. Turnout was 52 per cent, compared to 76 per cent in 2019.

In her victory speech, Green said: “This campaign has shown that no matter where you live, or how supposedly safe a constituency may appear to be, if you want a Liberal Democrat member of parliament, you can have a Liberal Democrat member of parliament.”

“If you wish to reject Conservative mismanagement and vote for a voice that will represent you and stand up for your rights then it is the Liberal Democrats who will continue to fight your corner.”

Major issues in the campaign included the HS2 rail line, which cuts through the constituency, the state of local roads and the Government’s proposed planning reforms, which have sparked fears about building in the countryside around the seat in the Chilterns.

Despite its huge majority in the House of Commons, the Conservatives had sent Prime Minister Boris Johnson and big hitters Rishi Sunak, Oliver Dowden and Theresa May to the seat to campaign in recent weeks.

But Conservative candidate Peter Fleet suggested his party had been outcampaigned by the Lib Dems and acknowledged the Tories had to restore “trust and understanding” with voters.

He said: “It’s an absolutely extraordinary result which must take into account the fact that the Liberal Democrat party didn’t just throw the kitchen sink at this constituency, it was the microwave, the table, the oven, the dishwasher, the dog, the cat and anything else that was lying around as well.”

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey, who visited the constituency 15 times before the poll, said the result was a “huge victory” for the party. He said the people of Chesham and Amersham had sent a “shock wave” 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.”

“Across the south, the Tory Blue Wall is beginning to crumble. Here and in great swathes of the country, only the Liberal Democrats can beat the Conservatives and breach their Blue Wall.”

The size of the Lib Dem majority will certainly ring alarm bells in Conservative Campaign Headquarters.

Although the party has made huge “red wall” gains under Johnson’s leadership, recent results in the South – including the doubling of Labour’s local representation in Worthing, the Labour win in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral contest and the Lib Dem win in the Amersham town council – suggest tribal loyalties in the South could be breaking down.

The final results were: Lib Dem 21,517, Conservative 13,489, Green 1,480, Labour 622, Reform UK 414, Breakthrough Party 197, Freedom Alliance 134 and Rejoin UK 101.

The victory caught bookmakers off guard. Ladbrokes, which had the Tories as firm favourites and the Lib Dems closed at 4/1, said it is “fair to say this was a night for the punters”.