 This came after months of press criticism of Lamont during his 1993 budget and a heavy defeat at a by-election in Newbury.His delay in sacking Lamont was exploited by Major's critics both inside and outside of his party, who used it to claim Major was too indecisive.Immediately after Black Wednesday, the Conservatives fell far behind Labour in the opinion polls and Major would never be able to regain the lead for the rest of his time as Prime Minister, being trounced in local council elections and the European Parliament elections on the way, as well as suffering a string of by-election defeats which gradually wiped out the Conservative majority.