Former Yeovil MP 'resigns' from the Conservatives
The Liberal Democrats won by a 12,000-vote majority on Thursday's election in his constituency
The former MP for Yeovil, Marcus Fysh, has this weekend 'resigned' from the Conservative Party.
Sharing his thoughts on social media, the now-former Tory politician made the statement this weekend following the Labour landslide up and down the country - with his former seat being won back by the Liberal Democrats, which used to be held by their former leader Paddy Ashhdown.
Marcus Fysh has played a role in Yeovil's public life, having called for a ramping-up of efforts to make sure the now-defunct Pittards glovemakers survived, but he also recently apologised for breaching Parliamentary code of conduct after speaking to the media about a Parliamentary standards watchdog investigation.
After losing his seat on Thursday's election, he said: "I hereby resign from the Conservatives.
"It's dead.
"No chance of ever being electable again with its current non-Conservative Parliamentary composition.
"Move on. Let's do something else."
The Yeovil constituency was once a Lib Dem stronghold, with the late Mr Ashdown representing it between 1983 and 2001 before passing the baton to David Laws.
Conservative Marcus Fysh won the seat in 2015, as his party swept the Lib Dems aside across the south west, and had increased his majority in both 2017 and 2019.
But his luck ran out in the early hours of Friday morning (July 5) as Lib Dem challenger Adam Dance was swept to victory by more than 12,000 votes.
The campaign saw Messrs. Dance and Fysh lock horns at a number of public hustings – including one event in Ilminster over the weekend, where Mr Fysh described his opponent as “an imbecile” while taking questions from local farmers.
Turnout was considerably down on the 2019 contest, with 61.39 per cent of voters coming out to vote either in person or by post – a drop of more than ten per cent.
The Reform UK candidate, Laura Bailhache, did not attend the count, with her agent stating she had been unable to secure transport from her home in Taunton.
During his victory speech, Mr Dance – who also represents South Petherton and Islemoor on Somerset Council – thanked his “loving family”, many of whom had turned out to support him on the night.
He said: “Thank you to the people of Yeovil for putting your trust in me – to be your MP is a real privilege.
“I will be an MP who works for the area, like Paddy Ashdown and David Laws.
“I will go back to local advice centres, which will be held across the whole of the constituency, not just here in Yeovil.
“I will fight for local jobs, for a cleaner environment here, and for better local health services which we all need.
“I will always be an MP you can be proud of, and I will always be on your side because I was born and brought up here.
“I will be an agent for change in Westminster. We have to improve education and health, create a fairer society and meet head on the challenges of climate change.
“Thank you all so much for the trust you have placed in me – I won’t forget it, and I promise I won’t let you down.”
The full results from the Yeovil constituency are as follows:
- Steve Ashton (Independent) – 608
- Laura Bailhache (Reform UK) – 7,677
- Adam Dance (Lib Dem) – 23,765
- Marcus Fysh (Conservative) – 11,497
- Rebecca Montacute (Labour) – 3,002
- Serena Wootton (Green Party) – 2,403
Speaking after the declaration, Mr Fysh said he would continue to fight for the local area – though he did not say whether he would try to run against Mr Dance at the next election.
He said: “I would like to thank the great people of the Yeovil constituency – they’ve been fantastic throughout, we’ve done great things together and I believe in their future.
“I am concerned for the next few years and what that might bring them, and so I am going to try and help in any way I can in a personal capacity.
“When the tide goes out, it’s very hard to fight against that. Reform took our votes, particularly in Brexit-voting seats like ours, and turnout was also down.
“Frankly I’m disgusted with the way that the Conservative administration has behaved in the last 18 months – I think they’ve been poor.
“At the end of the day, we need a centre-right party that is able to speak across the centre ground and articulate conservative values.”