Eastleigh ....

[TheOstrich]

Excellent result all round !

Overjoyed to see the Cameroons pushed into third place. Now they've really got to start to get their act together.

Not enough to say they going to hold a referendum on Europe
They've got to hold a referendum on Europe

Not enough to say they are going to ban European migration into the UK.
They've got to ban European migration into the UK.

Not enough to go blah! blah! blah!
They've got to start doing.

And for any hope in 2015, they've got to start now.

And they can get rid of Cameroon for starters.

I feel so energised this morning, I'm now going into town and buy two McDonalds Big Breakfasts to celebrate!

[Kaz]

LOL Ossie

Perhaps if the candidate had deigned to speak to the BBC she might have fared a little better - although given how unpopular this government is (must be a record all-time low surely?) I somehow doubt it

Enjoy your BlackBeautyBurgers

[Suff]

There were suggestions that the Tory candidate was hiding throughout the campaign.

Perhaps Mr Cameron would like to cogitate on the fact that stating he is FOR the EU at an all time high of EU scepticism is not the way to win an election. When you say you will give the people the vote and then say you will stand in opposition of the will of the majority of the people, well, what did they expect?

The bigger worry here is that the UKIP will let in a new Lab Lib coalition at the next election. That would be a Complete and Utter disaster for the country. Cameron must understand this and address it.

The best thing that can happen, from now on, is that Cameron tries to get his exceptions through the EU council of ministers and they dismiss him with little, if any, grace. This will force his hand to a referendum where he will be forced to admit that his attempts to change the EU to make it UK friendly have utterly failed.

I'm not expecting the best. Although I expect that this vote may force him to veto the bankers bonus legislation. The Commission and Council will not remove the bonus sections so he must veto the other sections which the EU Banks will need to survive. Only by wielding his veto again and again and again will he eventually gain the ability to shape and change EU strategy and politics. If they understand that they will not get to do what they need to do unless they do what the UK Needs the to do, then they will understand that they cannot just ignore us and continue on as they were. This situation has not existed in UK-EU politics since Maggie as both Major and Blair were EU whores.

Sadly I couldn't make it to the Eastleigh campaign as I was in Germany then at home in France during most of it.

I feel a letter to Cameron coming on. I'm still registered as a Conservative in FIFE. Perhaps he would like to understand why I would have been supporting the UKIP campaign in Eastleigh.... Then again perhaps he already knows and would not.....

[Workingman]

The result is quite a boost for the LibDems, though it is fortunate for them that the Tories are seen by many as the government.

The big winners have to be UKIP - they were not that far off winning. However, that kind of result will not be played out in a general election, at least not all over the country.

The big question has to be how much it has damaged Cameron?

[Suff]

The big question has to be how much it has damaged Cameron?

A lot. A leader has to LEAD. He may be leading but must be seen to lead. He also needs to face Clegg up and say NO and if you don't like it leave and I'll run a minority government. It worked for Salmond and he was rewarded with a majority government at the next election....

I wrote to one of the Conservative party chairmen explaining why they could not rely on my membership, vote or support at the next election even though they had it at the last.

[cromwell]

UKIP are the only ones to have much of a reason to smile, I think.
The Tories and LibDems both lost 14% of their vote to UKIP. In a LibDem 'stronghold' their majority was halved; when they've finished celebrating they might reflect on that.
Labour were nowhere; OK they were never going to win, but they did just as poorly as last time; strange when the national polls have them so far in front.
Cameron.
Well, he called UKIP "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists". So how is he going to move the Conservatives nearer to UKIP territory? He can't, because everyone will know that he is insincere when he does so.

Essentially the rise of UKIP reflects the split in the Conservative movement. It is mainly about Europe but not entirely so. There are many old school Tories still; people to don't like gay marriage and wind farms, let alone the EU.

Cameron has attempted to re-position the Tory party and may actually split it; he didn't get the boundaries changed, which should have been his number one priority. He also failed to realise that he can adopt as many liberal poses as he wants; membership of the anti-fascist league, putting a windmill on his house, backing gay marriage - the BBC will still hate him, just because he's a Tory.

He needed to be ruthless after the last election and he hasn't been.

[Workingman]

According to the news sites I have seen the one stand-out issue, with those from all sides who switched to UKIP, is immigration.

People have woken up to the fact that immigration impacts on stretched services and communities. It only helps the immigrants and those businesses who are prepared to employ them on slave wages. However, after a few years of working their guts out on those same slave wages the immigrants can go home to their low income economies and be set up for life. That course is not available to those who were born and live here. The benefits of immigration to ordinary British people are impossible to find.

[miasmum]

I am pleased the Lib Dems kept the seat, but I am also pleased UKIP came second

[Workingman]

But why?

[victor]

all full of promises -till they get in office -then can't deliver for some reason