These by elections were billed as nail biters. Close, tense. In the end, they delivered two significant victories to labour. First in tamworth the 57th Safest Conservative seat in the country before last night. Edwards, sarah siena, labour party 11,719 votes. Cheering. The new mp was elated. It is certainly feeling very historic. I think one of the things we can take is a lot of comfort from the fact that people have seen labour are offering a positive vision, that they want a fresh start, and they are not seeing that the Conservatives have anything to offer. The defeated conservative candidate chose not to stick around. In a statement the tories described it as a difficult result on a much reduced turnout. But it was about to get even more difficult for them. Over in Mid Bedfordshire, when the ballot boxes started arriving, it had still been too close to call, in a rare three way fight between the Conservatives, labour and the lib dems. The liberal democrats doubled their share of the