Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party loses two by-elections leaving Prime Minister on the brink

What started out as quite amusing tittle tattle could now spell the end of Boris Johnson’s political career.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson with his partner Carrie. (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP)

What started out as quite amusing tittle tattle could now spell the end of Boris Johnson’s political career.

When one of his MPs was caught watching porn in Parliament - and used the bizarre excuse that he was trying to research tractors - you could be forgiven for thinking this would be another minor scandal easily shaken off by Teflon Johnson.

After all, this is the prime minister who has been found to have broken the law with lockdown-busting parties and still lived to tell the tale - albeit with his ego battered and bruised.

Just last week Mr Johnson was accused of offering his wife Carrie - then his lover - a plum job in the Foreign Office on a significant salary while he was Foreign Secretary.

And let’s not forget the accusations of sleaze, the intriguing relationship with a US tech entrepreneur while he was Mayor of London, and, of course, the questions over who coughed up the cash to decorate his Downing Street flat in garish wallpaper.

But it seemed that mud just wouldn’t stick to BoJo… until now.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson with his partner Carrie. (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP)

The Conservatives on Friday lost not one but two by-elections with massive swings against them, in a sign that voters may have had enough of the PM’s antics.

The first - in Tiverton and Honiton, a sleepy part of Devon in the south west of England - was sparked by Conservative MP Neil Parish’s resignation after he was caught watching porn in the House of Commons by a female colleague.

Mr Parish astonishingly claimed he had been looking up tractors when he accidentally stumbled upon a similar-sounding website that was somewhat less family-friendly.

There was some suggestion he had been looking up Claas Dominator combine harvesters when he “accidentally” found himself on a BDSM website.

Why he then chose to look up this website a second time, only he will know.

“My crime – biggest crime – is that on another occasion I went in a second time ... that was [while] sitting waiting to vote,” he admitted.

His poor wife found out about the incident via the media, but stood by him.

“If you were mad with every man who looked at pornography, you would not have many wives in the world,” she said, but admitted to being deeply embarrassed.

Carrie Johnson, wife of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is with him in Rwanda. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

MP Neil Parish, former Conservative Party MP for Tiverton and Honiton. (Photo by John Keeble/Getty Images)

Voters were somewhat less sympathetic, with the Tories losing a majority of more than 24,000 to the Lib Dems overnight.

A second by-election in Wakefield in the north west of England also saw a massive swing away from the Conservatives as Labour picked up the seat.

The double whammy immediately sparked panic in the Conservative Party, with party chairman and Cabinet minister Oliver Dowden immediately resigning.

What was significant about his resignation letter - submitted at 5.35am - is not what it says, but what it doesn’t.

Mr Dowden doesn’t offer support for Mr Johnson to continue as prime minister - he merely says “someone” must take responsibility for the party’s deep problems.

Mr Johnson - away in Rwanda battling to justify a new deal to resettle migrants there - has pledged to “keep going”.

“I’ve got to listen to what people are saying, in particular to the difficulties people are facing over the cost of living,” he said. “We’ve got to recognise there is more we’ve got to do and we certainly will.”

Whether Mr Johnson will be granted time to do any more is another question.

He only recently survived a vote of confidence from his own MPs. Whether he commands the confidence of regular voters, only time will tell.