Amazing UKIP result in Eastleigh

Some technology issues have prevented us commenting on the Eastleigh by-election until now but the excitement still hasn't worn off.

Diane James achieved a massive result in Eastleigh, securing UKIP's best ever by-election result and pushing the Tories into third place.

Candidate	Party	Vote	%	Change
Mike Thornton	Liberal Democrat	13,342	32.06%	-14.48%
Diane James	UKIP	11,571	27.80%	+24.20%
Maria Hutchings	Conservative	10,559	25.37%	-13.96%
John O'Farrell	Labour	4,088	9.82%	+0.22%
Danny Stupple	Independent	768	1.85%	+1.56%
Dr Iain Maclennan	National Health Action Party	392	0.94%	-
Ray Hall	Beer, Baccy and Crumpet Party	235	0.56%	-
Kevin Milburn	Christian Party	163	0.39%	-
Howling Laud Hope	Monster Raving Loony Party	136	0.33%	-
Jim Duggan	Peace Party	128	0.31%	-
David Bishop	Elvis Loves Pets	72	0.17%	-
Michael Walters	English Democrats	70	0.17%	-0.30%
Daz Procter	Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts	62	0.15%	-
Colin Bex	Wessex Regionalist	30	0.07%	-
Turnout: 52.7%

The UKIP vote in Eastleigh came from all sides with polling from former Tory donor, Lord Ashcroft, showing that 22% of Tory voters at the 2010 election voted UKIP, 19% of Lib Dem voters and 17% of Labour voters.  UKIP isn't the Tory protest party that the media and the left like to claim it is - we are the party of the left, the party of the right and the party of the centre.

It was great to hear Nigel Farage pointing out that it was vote splitting Tories that let the Lib Dems win.  We've been pointing out that Tories splitting the UKIP vote is letting Labour and the Lib Dems win elections and been ridiculed by Conservative Party activists who think that every vote for UKIP is a vote stolen from them.  The result in Eastleigh shows that a vote for the Tories is a vote for the Lib Dems or Labour.

Many, many congratulations to Diane James, to the Eastleigh branch and to all the volunteers who walked the streets of Eastleigh spreading our positive message that a vote for UKIP is a vote for change.  UKIP is going from strength to strength and a breakthrough at Westminster is surely inevitable very soon.