Labour boat sinks at Henley's political regatta

New Labour is falling apart. Not before time, I'd say. The Henley by-election has given the Labour Party a drubbing. Put their supporters in the same room as Bananaman's lot and the ORMLP could claim to have done reasonably well by comparison. Labour nearly came below the 1,000 vote barrier, a pyschological electric fence. As it was they lost their deposit, trailing behind the Green Party and the BNP.

Gordon Brown is an MP who job shares with an MSP. He leads a government that only managed to secure 20% of the electorate's support at the last general election. Since then, things have got worse. So bad, in fact, that the ineffectual Yvette Cooper was unable to speak any sense last night on BBC Question Time. The Labour vote in Henley probably does represent current opinion in large swathes of England. No wonder they didn't put up a candidate in Haltemprice. Losing a deposit twice would look like recklessness!

The result as it happened - here.

The result in detail -

John Howell - Conservatives, 19,796 (56.95% +3.46%)
Stephen Kearney - Liberal Democrats, 9,680 (27.85% +1.84%)
Mark Stevenson - Greens, 1,321 (3.80% +0.54%)
Timothy Rait - British National Party 1,243 (3.58%)
Richard McKenzie - Labour, 1,066 (3.07% -11.68%)
Chris Adams - UK Independence Party, 843 (2.43%, -0.07%)
Bananaman Owen - Monster Raving Loony Party 242 (0.70%)
Derek Allpass - English Democrats 157 (0.45%)
Amanda Harrington - Independent (Miss Great Britain Party) 128 (0.37%)
Dick Rodgers - The Common Good 121 (0.35%)
Louise Cole - Independent (Miss Great Britain Party) 91 (0.26%)
Harry Bear - The Fur Play Party 73 (0.21%)

Although there was a small swing from LibDems to Conservatives, it was Labour's loss of nearly 12% of the vote that was the significant point. Conservatives, LibDems and Greens can see positive movement. Labour and to a small extent UKIP can see negative movement. I think this is a reasonable mirror image for the next general election.

Posted in: Conservative Party,Gordon Brown,Henley by-election,New Labour