
If the Conservatives are beaten at the polls on July 20 in Selby & Ainsty, Somerton & Frome and Uxbridge & South Ruislip, it will be the first time in 55 years that a government has lost three by-elections on the same day.
The previous occasion was March 28 1968, when the Labour government of Harold Wilson was defeated by the Tories in by-elections in Acton, Dudley and Meriden.