BACKBENCHERS have warned Boris Johnson that he is on “last orders” after the Liberal Democrats overturned a massive Tory majority to win the North Shropshire by-election on Thursday night.

Conservative support in the constituency, which the Tories had held for almost 200 years, collapsed as Helen Morgan came out victorious by 5,925 votes.

Ms Morgan won 17,957 votes, pushing Tory candidate Neil Shastri-Hurst into second place with 12,032. There was a 34 per cent swing to the Lib Dems – the fourth largest in a by-election in the last 30 years.

Labour candidate Ben Wood slipped into third place with a mere 3,686 votes, a decline of 12.4 points on 2019.

The result follows weeks of government sleaze scandals and reports of partying in breach of Covid-19 rules.

Conservative chairman Oliver Dowden acknowledged that voters in the by-election had given the government a “kicking.”

With the result coming after the Commons revolt by 100 Tory MPs this week over Covid-19 restrictions, veteran backbencher Sir Roger Gale warned that the PM was living on borrowed time.

“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,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“Two strikes already, one earlier this week in the vote in the Commons, and now this. One more strike and he’s out.”

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Owen Paterson, with many Tory MPs still angry over the government’s botched attempt to spare him from punishment for breaking lobbying rules. 

The former minister held the seat with a majority of almost 23,000 in the 2019 general election.

Shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the latest poll was a terrible result for the Conservatives.

“Clearly people have wanted to send a message to the government,” he told BBC Breakfast. “They’re fed up with the incompetence, the sleaze, the kind of revelations we’ve seen over the last few weeks.”

Communist Party general secretary Robert Griffiths meanwhile criticised Labour’s approach to the election.

”Clearly, when it comes to Covid, many people believe there’s one rule for the ruling elite and another for the rest of us,” he said.

“In truth, Britain’s ruling class doesn’t abide by any rules when it comes to defending its interests and making money.

“That should have been Labour’s message in North Shropshire.

“Instead, the Labour leadership banned their party’s left-wing and second-placed candidate in the last three general elections from standing in the by-election, cutting the number of [Labour votes] by three-quarters.”