The first few available online reports of the Corby by-election
result – from The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, the BBC and such like –
have of course decried or ignored the UKIP performance in Corby. In fact, the
UKIP result – with 5,108 votes – is astonishing. UKIP did not have a candidate
in the 2010 general election, but has secured almost three times as many votes
as the LibDems and over half the Conservative vote. The campaign team started
from scratch, with virtually zero party infrastructure on the ground when they
began. They did a brilliant job.
The newspapers also show every sign of misunderstanding the basis
of UKIP support, quoting Labour sources that say UKIP split the Conservative
vote. The truth is that many of UKIP’s votes came from former Labour voters, fed
up with the wishy-washy Labour Party line on the EU.
Professor Tim
Congdon.
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