TEHRAN - Some pundits said a by-election in a British constituency would be a test of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his ruling conservative party’s popularity across the country. Others said it can’t be the litmus test because the North Shropshire region was and always has been Tory territory for a remarkable 200 years. Before voters headed to the polls, one local headline read “North Shropshire by-election - This has been Tory for 200 years; it’s not going to change now”

So, the announcement of a victory for the Liberal Democrats party is being seen as more than a massive shock to the British political system. Many analysts predicted that not all Conservative voters were ready to abandon the party. After all, North Shropshire was a pro-Brexit, staunch Conservative area. But the Lib Dems candidate, Helen Morgan, won the constituency’s parliamentary seat by a stunning 6,000 votes, overturning the 23,000 votes, the Conservative party achieved with a majority back in 2019. It’s being described as one of the biggest voting upsets of recent years in British politics. Analysts say, there was hope among the Lib Dems that they could pull off a victory but the size of the majority was not only surprising but also totally unexpected.

The ruling Conservative party’s co-chair Oliver Dowden has conceded that the voters have given the government what he called “a kicking” in an extraordinary victory.

Johnson and his ruling party did not only lose control of a safe parliamentary seat in the surprise election result, but they also witnessed a voter backlash against the British leader. The Tories had won every previous election in the same central England constituency until now. The huge swing with voters turning away from the ruling party comes at a time when Johnson is facing severe criticism on several fronts, including reports that his staff held parties last Christmas when everyone else in the country was forced into lockdown by the government itself. There was a further outcry over lawmakers' second jobs, condemnation of the way Johnson funded the lavish refurbishment of his Downing Street residence, and a surge in COVID-19 cases. This is while nationwide opinion polls show Conservatives falling behind their main rivals, the opposition Labour Party.

In her victory speech, Morgan declared "the people of North Shropshire have spoken on behalf of the British people. They have said loudly and clearly 'Boris Johnson, the party is over. Your government, run on lies and bluster, will be held accountable. It will be scrutinized; it will be challenged and it can and will be defeated.” She added that “the people of North Shropshire have spoken on behalf of the British people. They have said loudly and clearly:'Boris Johnson, the party is over. Our country is crying out for leadership. Johnson, you're no leader."

Some of Johnson's own MPs may look at this result and question whether their leader is becoming a liability for them. North Shropshire has been a traditionally staunch Conservative area. Analysts say the heavy defeat may further undermine Johnson's authority over his own MPs who are already in open rebellion over plans to introduce COVID-19 passports. The vote for the constituency, one of 650 seats in Britain's parliament, took place ahead of the normal general election cycle as the incumbent Conservative Owen Paterson resigned from his seat after he was found to have broken rules on paid lobbying. The government attempted to prevent that resignation by changing the rules but was forced to perform a strikingly fast U-turn after the move provoked an outcry in parliament and the public about integrity and trust under Johnson's leadership.

According to Morgan, Conservative voters have been “dismayed by Boris Johnson’s lack of decency and [were] fed up with being taken for granted.”

The by-election was sparked by the resignation of Paterson amid the lobbying scandal, which meant an empty seat in parliament was up for grabs. Paterson, a former cabinet minister who had held the parliament seat since 1997. UK by-elections are sometimes used by voters to punish the ruling party, but the scale of the Liberal Democrats victory will be widely viewed as further evidence of deep public dissatisfaction with a prime minister and government in crisis.

Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey called the result a "watershed moment in our politics" that "offers hope to people around the country that a brighter future is possible.”

"Millions of people are fed up with Boris Johnson and his failure to provide leadership throughout the pandemic and the voters of North Shropshire spoke for all of them."

The Tory candidate Shastri-Hurst described the result as "disappointing.” In the last General Election, Paterson won the seat for the Conservatives with a majority of almost 23,000. But the former cabinet minister quit in November after being found to have broken lobbying rules with his £110,000-a-year private sector consultancy work.

The North Shropshire results will pose another headache for Johnson and come as his government struggles to battle the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and considers further restrictions amid its record breaking spread but at the risk of mounting public anger. The government reported nearly 90,000 new covid infections, the second consecutive record daily tally since the pandemic began. Nevertheless, the crushing defeat in a constituency never previously lost by the Conservative Party, will raise serious questions about the Premier’s leadership. He is already reeling after around 100 of his MPs rebelled in parliament on Tuesday against the government's introduction of vaccine passes for large events. The British leader’s authority has also been damaged repeatedly in recent weeks with negative news coverage about corruption. Britain is also suffering spiraling inflation as a result of big borrowing during lockdowns, high energy prices and bottlenecked supply chains. Tax rises are also on the horizon from next April.

Some of Johnson's own MPs may look at this result and question whether their leader is becoming a liability for them. The defeat will likely see more MPs filing letters of no-confidence in their leader, which could trigger widespread speculation about an internal party vote to remove him.

This was, after all, the same method that saw his predecessor Theresa May ousted in mid-2019 after MPs including Johnson himself voted against her Brexit deal in parliament.

The Liberal Democrats appeared to have been helped by supporters of the main national opposition Labour party lending them their votes. Martin Hill, 68, who normally votes Labour, was among many other Labour supporters who switched sides in a tactical approach saying "I'll be voting for the Liberal Democrats because I'm so offended by the performance of Johnson, "It'll be a tactical vote, I want to give Johnson a slap in the face." Morgan has thanked Labour supporters who had given her their votes saying, “Together, we have shown that we can defeat the Conservatives not with deals behind closed doors, but with common sense at the ballot box.”

Perhaps Tory MP Roger Gale summed it up best when he told British media that “the electorate wanted to send a very clear message to Downing Street that they were dissatisfied with the management of this government,” he said. “I think this has to be seen as a referendum on the prime minister’s performance and I think that the prime minister is now in ‘last orders’ time. Two strikes already, one earlier this week in the vote in the commons [100 Conservative party MPs voted against the government] and now this. One more strike and he’s out.”