i take full responsibility for the result, and i will take full responsibility for fixing things. we have changed as a party, but we haven't set out a strong enough case to the country. brighter news for the party in west yorkshire, where tracy brabin was elected mayor. two months later, kim leadbeater won her batley and spen seat previously held by her own sister, jo cox. the conservatives won mayoral races in the tees valley and the west midlands. but injune, the lib dems inflicted a shock defeat in what had become known as the tories�* blue wall — see what they did there — in the chesham and amersham by—election. this wasn'tjust another lib dem by—election victory, it was our best ever and on the swing we achieved, dozens of conservative seats would fall to the liberal democrats in the next election.