London: Oliver Dowden on Friday resigned as the Conservative Party Chairman following its shock defeat in parliamentary by-elections.
Dowden shared his resignation letter with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on his Twitter account and said: “It is with great sadness that I must resign as Chairman of the Conservative Party with immediate effect.”
He said: “Yesterday’s parliamentary by-elections are the latest in a run of very poor results for our party. Our supporters are distressed and disappointed by recent events, and I share their feelings.”
Dowden said that it would be not right for him to remain the Chairman and someone must take responsibility.
“We cannot carry on with business as usual. Somebody must take responsibility and I have concluded that, in these circumstances, it would not be right for me to remain in office,” he said.
He said his decision to resign was “deeply personal”. He added that he would remain loyal to the party.
The Conservative party saw its defeat in the two seats it had held. The Labour party took Wakefield and the Liberal Democrats overturned a 24,000-plus majority to snatch Tiverton and Honiton, according to The Guardian.
