UK’s governing Conservatives face a reckoning with voters in 3 special elections

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party faces a trio of unwanted verdicts from voters this week. The U.K. is holding three special elections for House of Commons seats, part of shockwaves from the turbulent term of ex-leader Boris Johnson. He quit as a lawmaker last month when a standards watchdog concluded he’d lied to Parliament about lawbreaking parties in his office during the coronavirus pandemic. An ally followed Johnson out the door, and another lawmaker has resigned amid sex and drugs allegations. The resignations triggered a trio of by-elections Thursday that will let a broad cross-section of voters deliver a verdict on the party that has governed Britain since 2010.