UK PM Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives face heavy losses in two by-elections

London: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was dealt a major political blow on Friday as the governing Conservatives suffered a bruising in two key by-elections but averted a complete whitewash as the party held on to his former boss Boris Johnson's seat in London.

Thursday’s three-way by-election was widely pitched as a report card on the 43-year-old British Indian



leader's handling of the economy and wider prospects as party leader going into a general election, expected in the second half of 2024.

The Tories' narrow victory in the suburban seat of Uxbridge, which they won by 495 votes, spared Sunak the humiliation of being the first PM for 55 years to lose three by-elections in one night.