Rishi Sunak faces a further test next month with by-elections being contested for the Staffordshire seat of Tamworth to replace Christopher Pincher and in Mid Bedfordshire to replace Nadine Dorries.

While the Conservatives still have a commanding Commons majority, the occasion will be seen more as a form guide for how the electorate currently see his Government.

Mr Pincher resigned after losing his appeal against a suspension for drunkenly groping two men. He had a 19,634 vote majority in 2019 but the Tories may struggle to hang on to the seat with the party having already lost constituencies mid-term.

Similarly, Ms Dorries won with a majority of 24,664 last time out but has been criticised for being absent of late. She decided to step down around the time Boris Johnson resigned and has since taken a role on Talk TV, where she has repeatedly backed the former prime minister. It is thought she was hoping for a peerage that did not come from Mr Johnson.

Prime minister Mr Sunak is still on trade visits to India and said “mid-term by-elections are always difficult” for any government but he will be keen to hang on to Tamworth, which his party has held since 2010, and Mid Bedfordshire, which has been blue since 1931.

Three by-elections were held in July. The Conservative Party won Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Labour won Selby and Ainsty, and the Liberal Democrats won Somerton and Frome.

Where and when are the by-elections?

Mid-Bedfordshire will be contested on October 19

Bedfordshire police and crime commissioner Festus Akinbusoye has been selected as the Conservative candidate. He will take on Labour’s Alistair Strathern, Emma Holland-Lindsay of the Liberal Democrats, Dave Holland of Reform UK, and Green candidate Cade Sibley.

Nadine Dorries, a Boris Johnson loyalist, resigned from her Mid-Bedfordshire seat and launched a stunning attack against Mr Sunak last month.

She said in her resignation letter: “It is a fact that there is no affection for Keir Starmer out on the doorstep. He does not have the winning X factor qualities of a Thatcher, a Blair, or a Boris Johnson, and sadly, Prime Minister, neither do you.”

She has said she had written a book titled The Plot: The Political Assassination Of Boris Johnson, which led her to conclude she could no longer remain as a backbench MP.

Tamworth will also be on October 19

The Tories have lined up Andrew Cooper, a member of Tamworth Borough Council, while Labour have announced Sarah Edwards, and the Lib Dems have Sunny Kirk. There is also independent Richard Kingstone, and Reform UK hopeful Ian Cooper.

Chris Pincher also agreed to stand aside last month. He had sought to reduce a potentially by-election-triggering eight-week suspension recommended by the Commons Standards Committee for what was found to be an “egregious case of sexual misconduct” at London’s exclusive Carlton Club last year.

The Standards Committee found in July that Mr Pincher’s conduct last summer was “profoundly damaging” and amounted to an abuse of power.

Why are the by-elections taking place?

A by-election takes place when one of the following happens. An MP:

• resigns or dies

• is declared bankrupt

• takes a seat in the House of Lords

• is convicted of a serious criminal offence

In both cases this time around, the incumbent MP has resigned.