After Eastleigh....

I wasn't going to blog again on Eastleigh but turns out the result was only the start of the fun....

First of all, congratulations to the Liberal Democrats, I don't think I have ever seen a party trip over and fall into a by-election, let alone then win it!

 

But win they did, Mike Thornton appears to be a gentleman and good luck to him at Westminster. Next time though guys and girls, try not to heap pressure on your local candidate hey?

For Labour it wasn't great but when you start 19,000 votes behind you kinda need a miracle. The lesson for Ed Miliband from Eastleigh is simple, sometimes it's better to stand and watch than get embroiled in a scrap.

However, one victory for the Labour leader was the battle of the sound-bites on the television news. Miliband was contrite, we have more work to do and we know that while the Prime Minister was rather angry.

David Cameron cannot do firm, Blair could, when Cameron does firm out comes the bad-tempered ’Flashman’ character Labour love to bring out in him.

Another problem for the PM is he appears to have labelled the votes for UKIP as a ’protest’. That, together with the other somewhat naughty comments made by the PM about UKIP in recent months, will cause him a headache.

Both issues will fan the flames of what i have already described as a potential un-needed rebellion against the Prime Minister.

Cameron's miffed act won't stop murmurings from back-benchers who want a ’Conservative’ government not this hybrid administration.

But his failure to acknowledge UKIP could finish him, the party wants what a lot of Tories want, out of the EU or at the very least, a seat on the sidelines.

However instead of trying to tailor his Government's message to blunt UKIP, Cameron seems hell-bent on dismissing the party, ignoring the fact the Tories are, and will continue to, haemorrhage votes to Farage's men and women.

All of which will encourage his plotters to increasingly talk of rebellion and all-out war. 

But they and Cameron need to remember, Eastleigh was lost because of a candidate who polarised opinion, not because of the party.

The Tories don't want Labour to just walk back into Downing Street, a needless war now could make that ’horror’ a living reality.