Sir Keir Starmer welcomed parliament’s newest MPs to a Labour Party crowd at Westminster Hall on Tuesday 23 October, after the party inflicted a double by-election defeat on Rishi Sunak last week. The prime minister saw two healthy Conservative majorities disappear in Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire in results that Labour leader Sir Keir said “made history”. Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) and Alistair Strathern (Mid Bedfordshire) were cheered by their new colleagues during the celebratory gathering. Both contests were triggered by the high-profile departures of their previous MPs.