Make no mistake, these are extraordinary results for Labourpublished at 15:46 Greenwich Mean Time 16 February
Chris Mason
Political editor
My phone pinged first thing this morning with a text from a Conservative convinced of the party's imminent doom unless something radical changes - perhaps getting rid of Rishi Sunak.
But as things stand I don't detect a mass, wider outbreak of insurrection. At least not yet.
Instead, I detect a near resigned rationality to the near inevitability of these results from Tory insiders. One Tory backbencher, whose private reflections I sought on the results, replied with the crying laughter emoji, followed by "I'm an optimist".
The best the Conservatives can hope for is that by the autumn, the economy is looking up, and inflation and interest rates are coming down.
By-elections, particularly those midterm, can often be mood makers or even weather changers when it comes to the political climate. But these two, as close as they are to the general election and as in line with existing and increasingly established trends as they are, feel like they reinforce a collection of sentiments already there.
Make no mistake though - they are extraordinary results for Labour, a party crushed just five years ago, who now look as close to government as they have been in nearly a decade and a half.
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