Boris Johnson faces first major challenge as PM as he battles for Brecon by-election seat but Lib Dems 1/8 favourites to beat him

BORIS Johnson faces his first electoral test as PM today as he battles to hold on to the Welsh seat of Brecon and Radnorshire in a crunch by-election.

The Tories are hoping the 'Boris bounce' in the polls can save them from losing the seat to the Lib Dems, who are the current favourites to win.

6

6

Recent polls have given the new PM a huge boost since he came into No10 last week - with one showing the party shooting up 10 points ahead of Labour.

The Leave-voting seat has been held by the Conservatives since 2015 when they nicked it off the Lib Dems, who had it for 18 years before that.

And all other Remainer parties have piled in behind the Lib Dems too, giving them an even better chance.

But the Tory candidate in the area, Chris Davies, 51, was chucked out of the job by his own constituents earlier this year after he was convicted of fiddling his expenses.

20 per cent of the electorate signed a petition saying he had to go, which forced the by-election to take place.

Despite this, the local Tories chose to let him stand again, which caused a huge headache in Westminster.

Boris visited the area earlier this week but chose to stay out of the limelight with a private trip to the BVG Group offices - a hint they think they could lose it.

Betfair says the Lib Dems have a 90 per cent chance of winning the seat off the Tories, with odds at 1/8.

Sources said today: "We are confident we can do this, but it isn't in the bag. Nothing can be taken for granted when trying to overturn a big majority across a big seat.

"We know it's all about getting the vote out. The sun is shining, so it's a good day for polling."

If Boris loses this seat it will slash his majority down to just one.

This will a headache for him as he hopes to secure a Brexit deal and get it through the Commons in just a few weeks' time.

If just one MP decides to abandon the party and join the Opposition, it could completely scupper his Brexit plans.

Boris is also heavily reliant on the 10 votes of their Northern Irish allies, the DUP, too.

Meanwhile another Tory MP has said he will spend the next few weeks thinking about the future - in a hint he will defect to the Lib Dems.

Philip Lee, who wants a second Brexit referendum, suggested he will "spend the summer" deciding what he wants to do next.

"I'm really not comfortable about my party pushing for no-deal Brexit without proper consent of the public," he said.

"Purely on the national interest, I think it's wrong to do this. But party politically I think it's narrowing our base in a way that I don't see how we win elections.

"I'm sort of sitting here, looking on and - yeah - I'm going to spend the summer thinking a lot."

6

6

6

MOST READ IN POLITICS

SPEECHLESS

Pressure heaped on Keir over 'Covid lockdown breach' as he faces MPs grilling

STORM NIGEL 

Farage COULD topple Keir, Labour MPs admit - after Reform topped new poll

HOLY SMOKES

Measly £200 fines for selling vapes to kids are far too low, Labour told

ON THE UP

Nigel Farage is lurking behind the scenes ready to mop up Keir Starmer's mess

However, the odds for the Tories shortened yesterday as a flurry of bets were placed on them keeping the Welsh seat.

Boris' new team will also be keeping a close eye on the Brexit party today, who are set to perform well too.

But BoJo has slowly been eroding into their vote since he was elected as disaffected voters who desperately want Brexit to be done and dusted come back to him.

Polls close at 10pm and the results will come in the middle of the night.

6