Don't make our heroes beg for more

I spent most of today following Jill Seymour and Nigel Farage around the West Midlands to campaign against HS2, support UKIP in Cannock and then watch the unveiling of UKIP's defence policy at Himley Hall near Dudley.

We started the day in Marston in Staffordshire, a village that will literally be ripped apart by HS2. I saw first hand the impact that HS2 is going to have on our green and pleasant land. The farm that we met at is going to be cut in half by the railway line. The farm buildings are going to be knocked down and the farm house will be no more than 100 yards from the track. The lovely big house over the road is going to be demolished.

UKIP's new anti-HS2 ad lorry supporting the +STOP HS2 n alliance

I can't remember which candidate this car belongs to but it's certainly a statement!

The turnout in Cannock was fantastic. Loads of encouragement from local residents and when Nigel Farage arrived he was mobbed by supporters. He made a sharp exit when a couple of known Hate not Hope agitators were spotted and who can blame him after the physical attacks he's received at the hands of HnH thugs?

After Cannock it was on to Himley Hall for UKIP's defence policy announcement with Paul Nuttall, Bill Etheridge, Nigel Farage and Mike Hookem. Most of the guests were former armed services personnel and Mike Hookem received a standing ovation.

You can find details of UKIP's new defence policy on the UKIP website or just read the salient points from our Twitter feed for today.

Cannock Heath Hayes By-election result

UKIP had a terrible result in the Cannock Heath Hayes local by-election yesterday, finishing last.

The None of the Above Party Lib Dim candidate won with 314 votes, closely followed by the Tory candidate with 300. The Liebour candidate got 267 votes and the BNP candidate 116. The UKIP candidate finished last with just 51 votes.

Finishing last is a disappointment, especially with half the votes of the BNP candidate. But the BNP have been getting a lot of free publicity lately with Nick Griffin's invitation to appear on BBC Question Time and they were all over the news yesterday thanks to the court ruling that they have to allow non-whites into their membership (a court ruling based on a law that hasn't been passed by Parliament yet, how does that work?).

The blame can't be placed solely on the BNP's publicity but it will have played a big part in the result - both in terms of the BNP sympathy vote they always attract when the establishment cracks down on them and the increased turnout for LibLabCon voters to make sure the BNP don't embarass them.

Edit: From someone in the know ! UKIPs result here completely reflects our effort (which was about a 10th of the BNP) so in theory this is a bigger disappoint for the them. For a party who canvassed the whole ward , leafleted twice and drafted in 22 memembers serval times from Birmingham, Wolverhampton and the Black Country the BNP will be hugely disappointed.