A UNION organiser and a Greenpeace activist won seats in the Commons today as Labour trounced the Tories in two by-elections. 

Sarah Edwards, 35, and Alistair Strathern, 33, overturned huge Conservative majorities to sweep to victory in Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire respectively.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said she was “particularly delighted” that former Unite organiser Ms Edwards had won.

Ms Graham said: “The result shows the power of organisation that underpins the labour movement. She will be a bright star in Parliament.”

Ms Edwards, formerly a NHS governor and Oxfam worker, hailed her “historic victory” after overturning a majority of more than 19,000 to beat her Tory rival Andrew Cooper by 1,316 votes.

The by-election was held after the resignation of former Tory deputy chief whip Chris Pincher, following his Commons suspension for groping two men.

Ms Edwards said the people of Tamworth had “voted for Labour’s positive vision.”

Mr Strathern, meanwhile, said that “nowhere is off limits” for the party after he overturned a Conservative majority of almost 25,000 votes in Mid Bedfordshire, winning by a margin of 1,192.

The former maths teacher, whose partner Megan Corton-Scott is a political campaigner for Greenpeace, dressed as a zombie during a protest by the environmental charity outside the Home Office last November.

He has also protested outside Parliament against public order laws aimed at preventing Just Stop Oil protests.

The former Waltham Forest councillor, who was backed by the GMB union, took Nadine Dorries’s former seat, which had been held by the Conservatives since 1931.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “Winning in these Tory strongholds shows that people overwhelmingly want change and they’re ready to put their faith in our changed Labour Party to deliver it.”

GMB political officer Gavin Sibthorpe said: “Rishi Sunak and the Tories have shown working people again and again they have no plan, no competence and no mandate to govern this country.”

Ms Strathern was among hundreds of Labour members who condemned Oxford Labour Club for endorsing Israel Apartheid Week, a series of rallies against the Israeli government’s treatment of the Palestineians, in 2016.

Friends of Al-Aqsa chairman Ismail Patel told the Morning Star that the party must show leadership, both internationally and domestically, adding: “Labour is taking for granted individuals who want justice for Palestinians.”