A bizarre suburban byelection has been rescued from meaninglessness by 20,510 Richmond Park electors who have put Liberal Democrat Sarah Olney into the House of Commons and given erstwhile Tory pin-up boy Zac Goldsmith an almighty boot in the Brexits. Goldsmith, like his father before him, is a dedicated Leaver in one of the most Remain-leaning quarters of Remain City. But it was Goldsmith to whom London voters assigned guilt by association. This was the direct antithesis of all he claimed he stood for, and it did not go unnoticed in Richmond Park. A freak of a byelection that risked being pointless has ended up as a restatement of some of the capital’s most distinctive values.

Source: The Guardian December 02, 2016 07:24 UTC