Whilst the headlines rightly focus on a historic by-election win for the Greens, you might have missed another piece of history that took place in Gorton and Denton.
With all the attention on the Greens, Reform and Labour as the three front-runners for the seat, it was always likely to be tricky night for the forgotten-about Tories in Greater Manchester.
But it’s safe to say that calling this a ‘tricky night’ for the Conservatives would be an understatement as their candidate Charlotte Cadden claimed an unwanted piece of history for the party.
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Cadden won just 706 votes in Gorton and Denton, equating to 1.9%. This was well below the 5% threshold needed for a candidate to get their £500 deposit back
According to journalist Tom Harwood, this meant the Tories had lost their deposit in an English by-election for the first time in over 40 years.
Of course, this didn’t stop Tory leader Kemi Badenoch claiming that Cadden had been the “only sensible candidate” standing in the by election.
In a statement on Friday morning, Badenoch blamed “grievance politics between groups based on religion and race” for the result, just like Reform’s Matt Goodwin.
God forbid the Conservatives just accept their faults and have a bit of grace and humility in defeat…