Both Labour and Tories have much to be embarrassed about this morning. David Cameron's Conservatives won Clacton decisively four years ago – now his party has been not just defeated but crushed there by an upstart party. As for Ed Miliband, he’s supposed to be on the path to power. That is normally announced by a series of by-election wins with increased majorities. But Labour only held Heywood & Middleton by a whisker: had another 310 more Labour voters switched to Ukip then this supposedly safe Labour seat would have been lost to Nigel Farage. And Ed Miliband would have a lot of explaining to do this morning.
Last night’s two by-elections establish Ukip as a national force; not a protest party but (now) a parliamentary party which commands about 16 per cent of the vote thanks to its resonance with a large chunk of the British public from Manchester to the Essex coast.
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