Bad night for Tories

Up late to keep track of the by-elections in Sedgefield and Ealing Southall. Both Labour holds, and both poor results for the Cameron Tories, who came in third in both seats. In Sedgefield, they fell from second last time, being overtaken by the Lib Dems, while the result in Ealing Southall was, perhaps, even worse. There, despite the presence of the much vaunted ten-day Tory Tony Lit, they stayed in third place, some way behind the Lib Dems.

The Ealing Southall result can, I think, be viewed as a particular rebuttal of David Cameron, personally. In most constituencies, when one has a Tory candidate, he is simply listed as a "Conservative". But in Ealing Southall, Tony Lit stood, not as a "Conservative", but expressly as the candidate of "David Cameron's Conservatives". Not to mention the fact that the Tories put a huge amount of effort into the constituency - Cameron himself visited five times. And for all that, their share of the vote went up a mere 0.9%.

In two constituencies tonight, voters have rejected the Tory Party, and, it would appear, David Cameron personally. Given that the most recent opinion poll showed the Tories 7% behind Labour, one has to ask whether, having sold themselves out to a leader who makes Labour look right-wing, the Tories have actually achieved anything at all. Personally, I believe that they would be doing substantially better if they had a leader who actually had principles, and who was prepared to talk about the issues, such as immigration and crime, which really matter to people, rather than an unprincipled low-life, who drivels on in a sanctimonious cant about minor concerns such as the terrible threat posed by illegal logging. Feel free to quote this back at me if I'm proved wrong, but unless the Tories replace Cameron pretty damn quickly, I really can't see any result at the next general election other than a fourth successive Labour victory.

I also noted that in Sedgefield, approximately 21% of the vote went to minor parties, or independent candidates. Of particular interest to me, were the comparative results of UKIP and the BNP. UKIP scored 1.9%, a marginal increase from last time, but still an essentially insignificant figure. By contrast, the BNP, who didn't even stand last time, took 8.9% of the vote, finishing in a comfortable fourth place. To me, this provides further evidence that UKIP really cannot achieve a significant result outside of the European elections. And, at a time when all three main parties are so similar as to be almost indistinguishable, and when not one of them is willing to listen to the views of the public on such issues as crime, immigration, and the EU, then this result suggests, once again, that the best option for those of us who really wish to see real change in the way this country is run, is to vote for the BNP. Even if they don't win, a vote for them is by far the best method of applying a sharp kick to the fatted posterior of the political elite.