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IN THE end, there was no big upset. Despite a surge of support for their nemesis, the UK Independence Party (UKIP), the Conservatives won the Newark by-election on June 5th with ease. This was in a sense historic—the prosperous south Nottinghamshire constituency has now given the Tories their first by-election victory while in office since 1989. But it will have done little, for all that, to quell Tory nerves set jangling by UKIP’s rise. The Tory candidate in Newark, Robert Jenrick, won with a robust majority of 7,000 votes, despite the hostile circumstances in which the election was held. It...

The Conservatives have won the Newark by-election, retaining the seat with a majority of more than 7,000. Candidate Robert Jenrick polled 17,431 votes, beating UKIP's Roger Helmer, who finished second with 10,028 votes. Labour's Michael Payne came in third with 6,842 votes but it was a disastrous result for the Lib Dems, who were beaten into sixth place. Candidate David Watts finished sixth behind an Independent and the Green Party, losing his deposit in the process. The Lib Dems 1,004 votes represents their worst performance in a post-war English by-election. Opinion polls had suggested the Tories would hold on to...

There's a "by-election" today in England for one of the 650 seats in the House of Commons. The election comes just two weeks after the earthquake vote that gave the United Kingdom Independence Party a first place finish for seats in the European Parliament. UKIP candidate Roger Helmer is seen as a contender for victory for the Newark seat in the East Midlands (Nottinghamshire). UKIP picked up 34 percent of the popular vote for a first place finish in the East Midlands for the EU elections. Its been a frantic two weeks in British politics with a row over the...

Before the European Parliament election last month, voters were told the poll would also determine the next Commission president. In a silent putsch against the electorate, Angela Merkel is now impeding the process. She fears a loss of power and Britain’s EU exit. […] … Merkel had hardly begun her speech last Friday before she got right to the point. With her hands set on the podium in front of her in the Regensburg University auditorium, she said: “I am engaging in all discussions in the spirit that Jean-Claude Juncker should become president of the European Commission.” German news agency...

The vast majority of the four million people who voted for the UK Independence Party in the European elections will make the same choice at the general election, a new poll predicts today. The poll by ComRes suggests that 86 percent of people who voted for Nigel Farage’s party will do so again next year. More than 4.3  million people voted for UKIP in the European elections, giving the party its first national victory. The Conservatives came third, suggesting many of their previous supporters had defected to UKIP. Several Cabinet ministers have publicly said that many UKIP voters are merely...

Conservative Party Leader David Cameron is trying to sabotage UKIP’s influence at the European Parliament, just days after trying to appear sympathetic to euroscepticism by telling the British people that their message at the polls was “received and understood.” Instead of accepting UKIP's victory, Cameron has started a drive to cut off the legs of “the people’s army” in Brussels and Strasbourg. He has assigned Conservative Party fixers to do deals with hard-right and populist parties which, until now, the Conservatives claimed were “unacceptable.” The Tories are trying to stop Nigel Farage from forming a political group in the parliament...

In elections to the European "Parliament," political parties opposed to the ongoing EU takeover made massive gains. Anti-EU Parties Soar in "Political Earthquake" Elections The New American 26 May 2014 With European Union bosses working overtime to finish crushing what remains of national sovereignty and self-government in Europe, the public across much of the bloc appears to have had enough. In elections to the European “Parliament” — not a true legislative body in the traditionally understood sense of the word, but the only elected outfit in Brussels nonetheless — political parties opposed to the ongoing EU takeover made massive...

UKIP appears to be on course to top the poll in the European elections, with the first results starting to come in.....

Nigel Farage tonight claimed victory in the European elections, becoming the first 'insurgent party' to top a national vote. With results still being declared, Mr Farage broke cover to predict he will humiliate the Westminster parties, pushing Labour and the Tories into second and third. Support for Ukip has surged by more than 12 per cent, outstripping a more modest boost in votes for Labour, while the Lib Dems faced near-wipeout, with some calling for Nick Clegg to resign. Mr Farage said: 'Ukip is going to win this election and yes that will be an earthquake because never before in...

UKIP have topped the European polls in the UK, with the Labour Party vying with the Conservatives for second place. Sources from the other main parties have conceded Nigel Farage's party will win, with the leader hailing an "earthquake" in British politics. It will be the first time a party other than the Conservatives or Labour has topped a nationwide poll for the first time in 108 years.

The election results for the European Parliament will start coming in at 5pm Eastern Time (22:00 British Summer Time). Many voters all over Europe are making their choices today, in the UK the voting was on Thursday. Polling shows the United Kingdom Independence Party at about 30 percent popular support in spite of an intense campaign to discredit it by the major parties and the media. Everything from the race card to the employment of UKIP leader Nigel Farage's wife as his secretary has been thrown on the wall in hopes of something sticking. The immigration police just happened to...

ONE of Labour's most senior figures has written an open letter to Ukip supporters today, apologising for the party's previous views on immigration concerns and urging them to "keep an open mind". Shadow Justice Minister Sadiq Khan concedes Labour has been "too quick to dismiss concerns about immigration, or even worse - accused people of prejudice" in the letter, which was sent exclusively to Express.co.uk. Mr Khan lists a range of policies designed to entice former Labour voters thinking of voting for Ukip back to his party. The letter comes just days after Ukip saw its number of councillors across...

All over Europe, voters are turning in a conservative direction, and against the autocratic European Union and its big government enablers. New York Times reporters Steven Erlanger and Stephen Castle write a dripping-with-disdain account of local election results in the UK, which will be followed tomorrow by results for the European Parliament. To them, conservatgives are “right wingers” or “far-right” and those who object to EU takeover of sovereignty are “anti-Europe.” Voters in Britain sent a forceful message of discontent to established political parties on Friday, as returns from local elections showed an even stronger following than expected for the...

The pundits of England, like the BBC's Nick Robinson for example, have acknowledged an "earthquake" in the election results for local councils showing a big surge for the United Kingdom Independence Party. But then they move on to say that UKIP is not going to control any of the councils, only got 17 percent of the popular vote while the Conservatives and Labour got more. It reminds me of what a Democrat might have said in Texas in the mid-1960's. "The Republicans might have elected John Tower to the Senate, but we still control the Governor's office, the Lieutenant Governor's...

Nigel Farage today declared that Ukip is ‘re-writing political history’ after making in-roads into Labour, Tory and Lib Dem heartlands. With half of local election results declared, Ukip has won more than 100 seats, costing all the main parties overall control of town halls across the country. David Cameron rejected calls from Tory MPs to strike an electoral pact with Ukip, as Nick Clegg refused to resign after seeing the Lib Dems ousted from flagship councils. But Ed Miliband came under the greatest pressure, with Labour MPs lining up to warn his ‘unprofessional’ and ‘weird’ campaign had failed to connect...

UKIP has gained council seats from all the main parties, the latest local election results show. UKIP's performance held Labour back from making the gains many expected, and weakened the party's grip on its traditional northern heartlands. The Conservatives have also lost seats to the anti-EU party and the Liberal Democrats continue to be punished by voters. According to the latest Sky News projection, the results so far would give a hung parliament at the 2015 General Election.

Nigel Farage was heading for a breakthrough in local and European elections on Thursday, as early results suggested that the UK Independence party leader’s prediction of a political “earthquake” might be borne out. Mr Farage was hopeful that Ukip would win the European elections, the party’s first victory in a nationwide poll, leaving big questions for the leaders of each of the three traditional parties over how they deal with the populist insurgency. Ukip delivers blow to Labour in the north Angry voters turn to anti-politics of Ukip Mainstream braced for Farage In depth European elections 2014 Cameron to mount...

(Reuters) - The UKIP party will likely top European elections on Thursday or come a close second, according to opinion polls that suggest a barrage of criticism accusing it of racial slurs and bigotry has failed to put off voters. All three of Britain's three main political parties have strongly criticised the UK Independence Party (UKIP), which wants Britain to leave the European Union and to impose much tougher immigration controls, prompting the party to take out an advert in a national newspaper to assert that it is not racist.

Marine Le Pen puts Laura Kuenssberg from BBC Newsnight in her box. The typically agenda riven bias was well in evidence here when Kuenssberg tried to get Le Pen to say that UKIP and the FN were fellow travellers. I found Ms Le Pen very adept at keeping control of the interview in not allowing herself to be pigeon holed by this BBC lackey. I admired the way that she admonished Kuenssberg for being more interested in her own questions rather than Ms Le Pens answers, a typical BBC Journalist problem unless they are interviewing someone from the left, the...

Look out, European Elites: the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) led by Nigel Farage, whose main focus is to force Britain out of the European Union, is riding high ahead of the May 22 EU Parliamentary vote. Watch one of the most powerful political videos I have seen in ages, which was launched last month by UKIP. The UKIP has been rallying support on many of the same issues that Tea Party and other traditional Reagan conservatives are concerned about in the U.S.—a declining middle class, stagnating wages, unrestricted immigration, an expanding dependency class, and affronts to national sovereignty.