Humiliated in Henley
June 27th, 2008 by ThunderDragon
Today the Labour Party is humiliated. The Henley by-election was an even worse result than Crewe and Nantwich. The results are as follows:
- John Howell: Conservatives, 19,796 (56.95%, +3.46%)
- Stephen Kearney: Lib Dems, 9,680 (27.85%, +1.84%)
- Mark Stevenson: Green, 1,321 (3.80%, +0.54%)
- Timothy Rait: BNP, 1,243 (3.58%, -)
- Richard McKenzie: Labour, 1,066 (3.07%, -11.68%)
- Chris Adams: UKIP, 843 (2.43%, -0.07%)
Yes, Labour came fifth. They were behind not just the Conservatives and Lib Dems - as was expected - but also polled significantly fewer than both the Greens and the BNP. Due to losing more than 11% of their vote share, they polled only 3% of the vote, thus losing their deposit. Not a good thing for a cash-strapped party.
Whilst this was Henley, and not exactly a seat where Labour were expected to do well, to come behind two minor parties is a massive humiliation. And to lose their deposit as well doesn’t look good. When was the last time one of the three main parties lost their deposit in a parliamentary by-election?!
All this on Brown’s one-year anniversary as PM.
However, the Lib Dems havent exactly done well, either. Their by-election prowess was once the envy of all political parties, but both in Crewe and Nantwich and in Henley they have failed miserably. Why is it that so much of Labour’s vote is skipping the Lib Dems and going straight to the Conservatives? That is the question that Nick Clegg has to answer if he is to increase his number of MPs at the next general election, or maybe even to prevent the number decreasing.
To rub this point in, here is a pictorial representation of the Henley results, courtesy of A. Tory [and Microsoft Excel]:
What the last two by-elections have shown is that the Conservatives are now seen properly as an alternative government, not just an opposing political party. This is a very good thing.
But to keep it going, Cameron and his Shadow Cabinet must bring out a concrete set of proposals to take the country forward. Whilst it is governments that lose elections and not oppositions who win them, without a proper set of proposals people will think twice before voting the Conservatives in to power.
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