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01/10/2004
Labour hold Hartlepool as Tories are beaten into fourth
Labour has won the Hartlepool by-election but saw its massive 17,000 vote majority held by Peter Mandelson at the last general election slashed to just 2,000.
While the Labour victory celebrations will be tinged with relief that the Lib Dems just failed to secure the seat, the Tory Party will be smarting today from the shattering blow dealt to them by the north east constituency's electorate.
For the first time since the Second World War, the official Opposition failed even to take third -the party's 3,044 votes placed Tory candidate Jeremy Middleton fourth behind the UKIP's Stephen Allison who took 3,193 votes.
Labour's Iain Wright attracted 40% of the turnout with 12,752 votes and the Lib Dems' Jody Dunn received 10,719 votes.
Hartlepool's new MP, 32-year-old councillor Iain Wright said that the vote was a "disastrous" result for the Tories.
"Tonight's result is great news for Tony Blair, a huge disappointment for Charles Kennedy and an absolute disaster for Michael Howard," he said.
The Lib Dems paid tribute to their candidate for achieving a swing of 19%, and also heaped scorn on the Tories.
Lib Dem party president Simon Hughes said: "The Tories have not just been overtaken, they have been left in the lay-by and overtaken by UKIP. It is the only time the Tories have gone from second to fourth since the Tory Party was formed."
Lord Rennard, the Liberal Democrat campaign chief, said: "This has been a solid Labour town for 40 years. We are now seeing a pattern in which the Tories start in second place and end up third, and now fourth".
Conservative Party Co-Chairman Dr Liam Fox acknowledged that the result had been "disappointing" for them.
Dr Fox blamed the Conservative setback on tactical voting, with voters "switching to the Liberal Democrats in a bid to hammer Tony Blair".
He added: "It is pointless to try to read anything into this result for the Conservatives. In the 1992-7 Parliament, Labour was badly beaten on a number of occasions in exactly the same set of circumstances, but went on to win a huge majority at the 1997 election.
"I am confident that those who were tempted to vote UKIP in a by-election, which isn't going to change a government, will look at those alternatives and back the Conservatives."
The UKIP's Roger Knapman said that the by-election demonstrated that his party could expect to win seats at the next general election.
“We beat the Liberal Democrats in the European elections. We beat the Conservatives tonight. We are on our way,” he said.
(gmcg/mb)
While the Labour victory celebrations will be tinged with relief that the Lib Dems just failed to secure the seat, the Tory Party will be smarting today from the shattering blow dealt to them by the north east constituency's electorate.
For the first time since the Second World War, the official Opposition failed even to take third -the party's 3,044 votes placed Tory candidate Jeremy Middleton fourth behind the UKIP's Stephen Allison who took 3,193 votes.
Labour's Iain Wright attracted 40% of the turnout with 12,752 votes and the Lib Dems' Jody Dunn received 10,719 votes.
Hartlepool's new MP, 32-year-old councillor Iain Wright said that the vote was a "disastrous" result for the Tories.
"Tonight's result is great news for Tony Blair, a huge disappointment for Charles Kennedy and an absolute disaster for Michael Howard," he said.
The Lib Dems paid tribute to their candidate for achieving a swing of 19%, and also heaped scorn on the Tories.
Lib Dem party president Simon Hughes said: "The Tories have not just been overtaken, they have been left in the lay-by and overtaken by UKIP. It is the only time the Tories have gone from second to fourth since the Tory Party was formed."
Lord Rennard, the Liberal Democrat campaign chief, said: "This has been a solid Labour town for 40 years. We are now seeing a pattern in which the Tories start in second place and end up third, and now fourth".
Conservative Party Co-Chairman Dr Liam Fox acknowledged that the result had been "disappointing" for them.
Dr Fox blamed the Conservative setback on tactical voting, with voters "switching to the Liberal Democrats in a bid to hammer Tony Blair".
He added: "It is pointless to try to read anything into this result for the Conservatives. In the 1992-7 Parliament, Labour was badly beaten on a number of occasions in exactly the same set of circumstances, but went on to win a huge majority at the 1997 election.
"I am confident that those who were tempted to vote UKIP in a by-election, which isn't going to change a government, will look at those alternatives and back the Conservatives."
The UKIP's Roger Knapman said that the by-election demonstrated that his party could expect to win seats at the next general election.
“We beat the Liberal Democrats in the European elections. We beat the Conservatives tonight. We are on our way,” he said.
(gmcg/mb)
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