Labour Mayor of Rochdale apologises for saying she would have rigged by-election result

The Labour Mayor of Rochdale has apologised for saying that she would have declared Labour the winner of the Middleton & Heywood by-election regardless of the actual result.

Cllr Carol Wardle was recorded saying "it would have been that result whatever it said" and the clip was uploaded to YouTube. She has apologised, describing it as "an unfortunate mistake".

This was an unfortunate mistake by me and I wholeheartedly apologise for any concern caused. My only role in the whole proceedings was a ceremonial one, to formally announce the result by reading the declaration.

UKIP - The Great Realignment Of British Politics Finally Begins

It is difficult to know what to celebrate the most - Douglas Carswell's fantastic victory in Clacton or John Bickly's very close second in Heywood and Middleton.

What is now absolutely clear is that the great realignment of British politics, so long prophesised, is finally underway. 

Some quick points:

• UKIP is rapidly becoming the party of the indigenous working class, displacing working class Toryism in the south of England and challenging Labour supremacy in the north.
• Both Conservative and Labour are retreating deeper and deeper into their regional heartlands and can no longer really be called national parties. Labour's vote evaporated in Clacton, as did the Tories in Heywood and Middleton. 
• UKIP is now surely the only serious challenger to Labour in it's post-industrial heartlands.
• The Labour vote is now realigning in tune with the modern party's middle class leadership and Metropolitan obsessions. Labour has sucked up a very large proportion of the previous LibDem voting middle classes at the same time as losing large amounts of working class supporters to UKIP.
• Despite our advances deep into Labour territory, thanks to the huge public sector vested interests and the dependency culture deliberately created by Gordon Brown, the Labour vote remains very strong in their core areas and will be difficult to break down. After all, after the Rotherham revelations a party with Labour's track record should quite properly cease to exist, and yet it is still winning by-elections in the kind of places similar to those badly affected by such terrible scandals.
• The LibDems are destroyed as a national party, doomed to total humiliation except where they have strong local incumbency factors in their favour. They will lose hundreds of deposits at the next general election. However they may well still hold the balance of power afterwards because of their still strong localised concentrations in support.
• Judging by the idiotic comments and spin from the LibLabCon parties after tonight's debacle, of which the victory address by Labour's Liz McInnes was the most ridiculous, the political class (a) continues to treat the voters with contempt by insulting their intelligence and (b) still doesn't know what has hit it!

Douglas Carswell is UKIP's first elected MP

Douglas Carswell has won the Clacton by-election for UKIP by a huge margin, increasing his majority and becoming UKIP's first elected MP.

John Bickley came unbelievably close to unseating Labour in the Heywood & Middleton by-election, falling short by just over 600 votes after a bundle check.

Carswell's victory for UKIP in Clacton represents a 44% swing from Conservative to UKIP and is the largest winning vote increase for any party in history whilst Bickley's close second in Heywood & Middleton will mortify Labour who almost lost the safe northern seat that they have held since it was created 21 years ago.

When I joined UKIP six years ago the party was very much the underdog, barely registering on opinion polls and tanking in elections. How things have changed. UKIP has replaced the Lib Dems as the number three party in the UK and is challenging both the Conservatives and Labour. The courage that Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless have shown in defecting from the Conservatives and resigning their seats to get a fresh mandate for UKIP is a rare display of principals that hadn't been seen since Churchill crossed the floor twice when his party failed to represent his beliefs. But we must also recognise the role of Nigel Farage who has devoted his life to turning UKIP into a serious political force for good at great personal expense. There is no doubt in my mind that UKIP's success over the last couple of years, culminating in yesterday's historic first ever Westminster by-election win would not have happened were it not for Nigel Farage's leadership of the Peoples' Army that he has created.

Clacton

Candidate	Party	Vote	%
Douglas Carswell	UKIP	21,113	59.7%
Giles Watling	Conservative	8,709	24.6%
Tim Young	Labour	3,957	11.0%
Chris Southall	Green	688	1.7%
Andrew Graham	Lib Dem	483	1.3%
Bruce Sizer	Independent	205	0.6%
Alan "Howling Laud" Hope	Loony	127	0.4%
Charlotte Rose	Independent	56	0.2%

Heywood & Middleton

Candidate	Party	Vote	%
Liz McInnes	Labour	11,663	40.9%
John Bickley	UKIP	11,016	38.7%
Iain Gartside	Conservative	3,496	12.3%
Anthony Smith	Lib Dem	1,457	5.1%
Abi Jackson	Green	870	3.1%

UKIP councillor attacked by Labour supporters outside Heywood & Middleton polling station

The new UKIP Group Leader on Dudley MBC has reportedly been assaulted by a Labour supporter, believed to be a local councillor, in Heywood & Middleton.

Cllr Paul Brothwood was keeping an eye on a polling station and asked the occupants of a car covered with Labour posters not to park outside the polling station which is a criminal offence. He was then allegedly assaulted and had his phone snatched off him and smashed by a Labour supporter believed to be a local councillor. The police have been called in to investigate.

Can you identify the driver of this Labour campaign vehicle? The number plate is a little difficult to make out but looks to be NX04 UTY.

Picture: @SamuelLaunder

Labour want a quickie by-election to replace Jim Dobbin

The Labour Party are believed to be planning a distasteful attempt to get a quickie by-election in Heywood & Middleton after the death of the incumbent Labour MP, Jim Dobbin.

According to the Guardian, the Labour Party is so terrified of UKIP winning the seat with the help of Douglas Carswell's expected victory in Clacton that they don't want to wait for Dobbin's funeral and will instead push for the election to be called next week to coincide with the Clacton by-election and hopefully split UKIP's resources.