What challenges does Johnson face after vote of confidence?
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London (CNN) --
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a serious blow to his authority on Friday after his party lost two by-elections in one night, raising new questions about his leadership.
Labor's Simon Lightwood won the seat for Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, in northern England, with a majority of 4,925, a 12.7 percentage point shift from Conservatives to Labour.
Moments later, Liberal Democrat Richard Foord won the Tiverton and Honiton by-election in Devon, West England, by a spectacular margin of almost 30 points.
The Conservatives had held the seat with a majority of more than 24,000 votes, making the victory one of the largest majorities ever in a UK parliamentary by-election.
Boris Johnson narrowly survives a vote of confidence from his party
Helen Hurford, the defeated Conservative Party candidate, had locked herself in a room previously reserved for media interviews at the recount site, apparently refusing to speak to any media, PA Media reported.
"This is a historic victory for the Liberal Democrats and a devastating blow to Conservative MPs who continue to support Boris Johnson," a Liberal Democrat spokesman told British media.
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Johnson said the British government needs to "hear the results" of the crushing by-election losses, which have led Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden himself to resign from office.
In a joint interview during a visit to Rwanda, Johnson called the "harsh" results "a reflection of many things," acknowledging that British voters are "going through a tough time."
"As a government I have to listen to what people are saying. And the difficulties that people are facing because of the cost of living is, I think, for most people, the number one problem," Johnson said.
Thursday's by-election was sparked by the resignation of prominent Conservative lawmakers, one of whom admitted to watching porn inside the British Parliament chamber, and another found guilty of sexually abusing a teenager.
Liberal Democrat candidate Richard Foord has defeated a huge Conservative majority in Tiverton and Honiton, west of England.
The results are significant – and deeply worrying for the ruling Conservative Party – for two reasons.
The defeat in Tiverton and Honiton means many previously safe seats in the south and west of England could be in jeopardy in the next general election.
The Wakefield result suggests that Labor could win back many of the so-called Red Wall seats that went to Johnson's party in the 2019 election.
Friday's defeats follow the damaging Partygate scandal, which saw lockdown events at Downing Street, and a vote of confidence in Johnson's leadership earlier this month in which more than 41% of voters lawmakers from his own party voted to get rid of him.
Johnson has faced many other scandals that have affected his standing in the polls, despite his landslide victory of 80 seats just two and a half years ago.
These included accusations of misusing donor money to pay for a refurbishment of his Downing Street home and whipping MPs to protect a colleague who had broken lobbying rules.
Few tools in Boris Johnson's box
If these scandals - often dismissed by government ministers as "Westminster bubble" stories - were the only concerns of Britons, Boris Johnson might not be in such serious trouble.
But perhaps the biggest problem facing the prime minister is one that is somewhat out of his hands.
The cost of living crisis is mounting and the Government has few tools in its box to make things easier for British citizens.
There have been energy rebates and subsidies to help those most affected, but given the pace of inflation, they largely fail to address the magnitude of the problems.
This week, the country has suffered the worst railway strike in the last 30 years.
Unions and opposition politicians point the finger of blame at Johnson for refusing to bargain with the unions.
Johnson's allies are likely to spend the next few days declaring that he is the only person who can turn everything around and return the party to a winning position heading into the next general election, currently scheduled for 2024.
Boris Johnson fined for parties during confinement 0:49
It may be true.
But it may also be true that the public has decided for him.
While before many admired him as the man "who got Brexit", as his campaign posters said, he could now be just another politician for a large part of the public.
Boris Johnson is out of the country this weekend, attending Commonwealth, G7 and NATO summits in Rwanda, Germany and Spain.
It is usually when the leader is out of the country that the biggest conspirators in Westminster do their best work on him.
And there are a significant number of conservatives who think that Johnson is dragging the party into oblivion and that it will cost them their job...and power.
He has already faced a vote of confidence.
He could face another before the end of the year.
But the question some Conservative MPs are quietly asking is: Has Johnson's leadership burned the earth?
Is there someone who can rebrand the game, like Johnson did in 2019, and lead a revamped game to another win?
Unless elections are called early, the Conservatives will have been in power for 14 years when they ask citizens to give them another five.
In that time they will have had three very different leaders who, at the time, were thought to be the best people for the job.
If the country continues to feel like it is going backwards, it will be very difficult for Johnson — or any other conservative — to argue that they are the right people to carry it forward and keep a straight face.
CNN's Niamh Kennedy contributed to this report.
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