Watch: Tamworth Tory loser storms off

Oh dear. It seems that not all have taken the by-elections results well. Tories everywhere are waking up to two of the worst defeats in the party’s history but others involved in the campaign have preferred not to stick around. Among them was Andrew Cooper, the defeated Conservative candidate in Tamworth.

Moments after losing a safe seat with a majority of almost 20,000, Cooper left the hall, rather than stick around to hear the victory speech by Labour victor Sarah Edwards. By doing so, he eschewed his chance to thank those Tories who have toiled in his cause these past two months. In fairness to Cooper, it’s not exactly been a great week. Exposed by the Mirror for social media comments on Tuesday, he was attacked in the House of Commons on Wednesday and had to endure the ignominy of Rishi Sunak defending him as, er, a ‘thoroughly local candidate.’