This morning the world awoke to hear the results of yesterday's Eastleigh by-election which were both surprising and yet, on another level, unsurprising.
We were surprised to learn that the Liberal Democrats had held the seat, not least of all on account of the unhappy circumstances which gave rise to this by-election. It hasn't escaped our notice either that the Liberal Democrats have been punished since 2010, at least in local elections, for doing the honest thing and entering into a coalition with a party which was a few seats short of a workable parliamentary majority. That they were able retake Eastleigh, in the face of a scandal which has given British politics a worse name than it deserves, is nothing less than remarkable and it inspires faith in the fair mindedness of English people.
However we were rather less surprised to discover that UKIP had nudged the Conservatives into third place. It is by no means unusual for the electorate to punish the main party of Government at mid-term by-elections for taking tough, indeed unpleasant, but necessary decisions which it perceives to be unfair. Moreover the current political climate is remarkably favourable to UKIP. A great many people are unhappy about the nature of Britain's relationship with the European Union, the financial costs involved and the loss of sovereignty. They are even less happy with the levels of immigration and rightly angered by our inability to deport dangerous and unpleasant individuals who seek to abuse those Human Rights laws by which we are bound.
UKIP has done well in this by-election and deserves to be congratulated. However it must not imagine that this modest success means that it's within striking distance of forming a Government. It will take rather more than being the runner up in a by-election for the party to become a serious political force – in Westminster or anywhere else. What it can do usefully is hold Mr Cameron to his promise of an in/out referendum on EU membership if the Conservatives win the next General Election. No one born since 1957 has had any say on Britain's membership of the European Union and the time is now right for the whole question to be revisited.
In conclusion we think the happiest feature of this by-election is that the turnout was over fifty per cent. This is proof, if proof were needed, that people still believe in democracy.
We were surprised to learn that the Liberal Democrats had held the seat, not least of all on account of the unhappy circumstances which gave rise to this by-election. It hasn't escaped our notice either that the Liberal Democrats have been punished since 2010, at least in local elections, for doing the honest thing and entering into a coalition with a party which was a few seats short of a workable parliamentary majority. That they were able retake Eastleigh, in the face of a scandal which has given British politics a worse name than it deserves, is nothing less than remarkable and it inspires faith in the fair mindedness of English people.
However we were rather less surprised to discover that UKIP had nudged the Conservatives into third place. It is by no means unusual for the electorate to punish the main party of Government at mid-term by-elections for taking tough, indeed unpleasant, but necessary decisions which it perceives to be unfair. Moreover the current political climate is remarkably favourable to UKIP. A great many people are unhappy about the nature of Britain's relationship with the European Union, the financial costs involved and the loss of sovereignty. They are even less happy with the levels of immigration and rightly angered by our inability to deport dangerous and unpleasant individuals who seek to abuse those Human Rights laws by which we are bound.
UKIP has done well in this by-election and deserves to be congratulated. However it must not imagine that this modest success means that it's within striking distance of forming a Government. It will take rather more than being the runner up in a by-election for the party to become a serious political force – in Westminster or anywhere else. What it can do usefully is hold Mr Cameron to his promise of an in/out referendum on EU membership if the Conservatives win the next General Election. No one born since 1957 has had any say on Britain's membership of the European Union and the time is now right for the whole question to be revisited.
In conclusion we think the happiest feature of this by-election is that the turnout was over fifty per cent. This is proof, if proof were needed, that people still believe in democracy.