LibDems hold Eastleigh, Tories in Third Place after UKIP

[NickFitz]

David Cameron remained confident, saying "I've never been to Jobcentre Plus before, but I'm sure they'll process my claim quickly."

[Lockhouse]

If it wasn't for those Conservatives splitting our vote we'd have won it by a mile.

Living in Eastleigh (and as a UKIP party member), considering that currently all 36 council seats in Eastleigh are Lib Dem, this is a top result. I did two hours telling at a local polling station (first time I've ever got involved in stuff like this) last night and it was the postal votes that swung it for the Lib Dems. If the campaign had been a week or two longer it might have been a different story and possibly UKIP might have won.

[centurian]

Very many congratulations. I think you've just ensured that the Euro-loving Labour party win the next election.

They couldn't have done it without you.

Cameron is toast now. This is one of the target seats for the Tories to form an overall majority. If they can't win it after the week that Clegg has had

[Lockhouse]

Very many congratulations. I think you've just ensured that the Euro-loving Labour party win the next election.

They couldn't have done it without you.

Cameron is toast now. This is one of the target seats for the Tories to form an overall majority. If they can't win it after the week that Clegg has had

Labour, Conservative, Lib Dems - there is no difference. That's the point.

[KaiserWilly]

The Tory party is CINO (Conservative In Name Only).

The real conservatives are now in UKIP and BNP.

[doodab]

If it wasn't for those Conservatives splitting our vote we'd have won it by a mile.

Living in Eastleigh (and as a UKIP party member), considering that currently all 36 council seats in Eastleigh are Lib Dem, this is a top result. I did two hours telling at a local polling station (first time I've ever got involved in stuff like this) last night and it was the postal votes that swung it for the Lib Dems. If the campaign had been a week or two longer it might have been a different story and possibly UKIP might have won.

You mean the people who are too busy to turn up in person because they have jobs?

[d000hg]

If it wasn't for those people voting for other parties we'd have won by a mile

FTFY.

[VectraMan]

Cameron is toast now. This is one of the target seats for the Tories to form an overall majority. If they can't win it after the week that Clegg has had

The sitting government losing support in a bi-election is hardly a surprise. Come the general election when it's for real, people will vote differently, they always do. The real story here is Labour failing to pick up the protest vote against the coallition parties; what the extremists do is kind of irrelevant.

[sasguru]

The sitting government losing support in a bi-election is hardly a surprise. Come the general election when it's for real, people will vote differently, they always do. The real story here is Labour failing to pick up the protest vote against the coallition parties; what the extremists do is kind of irrelevant.

Quite. People will imagine Nigel Farage as PM and recoil

[formant]

UKIP's Nigel Farage said the surge in support for his party was not a "freak result", telling the BBC: "If the Conservatives hadn't split our vote we would have won."

(from BBC News - Eastleigh by-election: Lib Dems hold on despite UKIP surge)

Brilliant! He seems to be expecting one of the big two to step aside to allow his extremist one-issue protest party to gain some political ground. You really couldn't make this s*** up.

Dear UKIP, please keep doing what you're doing. I can't wait for you to play a substantial part in helping this country get rid of the current government of incompetence.
And that's saying something - I'm certainly no fan of Labour either. Lesser evils, though, lesser evils...

Seriously though, the fact that the LibDems held on to Eastleigh despite everything they've effed up lately shows that neither UKIP nor the Conservatives ever stood a real chance of winning this by-election.