UK voters are picking candidates to replace two MPs – one who was left mired in scandal and one who has become symbolic for the apparent fall of the ruling Conservatives.
Disgraced former whip Chris Pincher resigned as an MP for Tamworth after losing his appeal against a suspension for drunken behaviour.
Nadine Dorries was a loyal ally of ousted Prime Minister Boris Johnson. She announced she would quit her Mid Bedfordshire seat at about the time he decided he was leaving the House of Commons.
In a blistering attack on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in her resignation letter, she said Conservative MPs would face an “electoral tsunami” at the next general election because of a “zombie Parliament where nothing meaningful has happened”.
She announced she was resigning but took weeks to complete the formal steps, in turn, delaying the by-election to Thursday.
At the last election, the staunch Brexit supporter won with a 24,664 majority in a seat that has been a Tory stronghold since 1931.
Conservative sources say they have research which shows its vote share could fall from the 60 per cent Ms Dorries won last time to 30 per cent for their candidate.
The deeply true-blue stronghold could still be won, with Labour on course for 22 per cent and Lib Dems on 12 per cent.
At the same time, the Conservatives – who are lagging Labour in national opinion polls – may wish to publicly play down their chances, so that any success is deemed better than expected.
If the Conservatives lose the seat, it would represent one of the biggest collapses of support in English by-election history.
The vote is being held on the same day as the Tamworth by-election, where the Conservatives also have a large majority of 19,634.
Labour is hoping to flip the majorities in both constituencies but has been cautious not to appear complacent, with a spokesman saying it is a “moon shot” to win either or both seats.
The votes will also be a crucial test for Mr Sunak's pitch that the Conservatives – after 13 years in power – represent a vote for change.
Mr Pincher, who has represented the Staffordshire seat since 2010, stood down after being found to have drunkenly groped two men.
The controversy remains one of the pivotal moments in Boris Johnson's downfall.
Mr Sunak's party – battered by the cost of living crisis, the fallout from a series of political controversies in Mr Johnson’s time, and the short-lived Liz Truss administration – is trailing in opinion polls behind Keir Starmer's Labour Party.
Recent surveys have shown Labour's poll lead narrowing after Mr Sunak announced a number of populist policies.
Labour is hoping Thursday's result will mirror the result of the northern Selby and Ainsty local election in July, where the opposition overturned a 20,000 majority.
Voters on the same day, however, narrowly backed the Tories in Mr Johnson's former Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency in a local poll dominated by a plan to extend a scheme taxing the use of the most polluting vehicles in London
Mr Johnson won a landslide general election victory in 2019 with an 80-seat majority in parliament.
That win was partly due to “red wall” voters, former Labour supporters who backed the Conservatives for the first time.
The seats being decided on Thursday are traditional Tory voters, not new voters from Labour’s heartland.
Britain's travel restrictions
- A negative test 2 days before flying
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- Book a post-arrival PCR test
- Double-vaccinated must self-isolate
- 11 countries on red list quarantine
At Eternity’s Gate
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaacs, Mads Mikkelsen
Three stars
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The specs: Fenyr SuperSport
Price, base: Dh5.1 million
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 800hp @ 7,100pm
Torque: 980Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 13.5L / 100km
JOKE'S%20ON%20YOU
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'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
Sour%20Grapes
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The past Palme d'Or winners
2018 Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda
2017 The Square, Ruben Ostlund
2016 I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach
2015 Dheepan, Jacques Audiard
2014 Winter Sleep (Kış Uykusu), Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2), Abdellatif Kechiche, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux
2012 Amour, Michael Haneke
2011 The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2009 The White Ribbon (Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke
2008 The Class (Entre les murs), Laurent Cantet
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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PROFILE OF CURE.FIT
Started: July 2016
Founders: Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori
Based: Bangalore, India
Sector: Health & wellness
Size: 500 employees
Investment: $250 million
Investors: Accel, Oaktree Capital (US); Chiratae Ventures, Epiq Capital, Innoven Capital, Kalaari Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Piramal Group’s Anand Piramal, Pratithi Investment Trust, Ratan Tata (India); and Unilever Ventures (Unilever’s global venture capital arm)
More coverage from the Future Forum
Cry Macho
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam
Rating:**
Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ENGLAND SQUAD
Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
88 Video's most popular rentals
Avengers 3: Infinity War: an American superhero film released in 2018 and based on the Marvel Comics story.
Sholay: a 1975 Indian action-adventure film. It follows the adventures of two criminals hired by police to catch a vagabond. The film was panned on release but is now considered a classic.
Lucifer: is a 2019 Malayalam-language action film. It dives into the gritty world of Kerala’s politics and has become one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The years Ramadan fell in May
The biog
Name: Timothy Husband
Nationality: New Zealand
Education: Degree in zoology at The University of Sydney
Favourite book: Lemurs of Madagascar by Russell A Mittermeier
Favourite music: Billy Joel
Weekends and holidays: Talking about animals or visiting his farm in Australia
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
