Well if you’ve been looking at the seat projections, this was expected. “6” was the highest projection I could find, as of yesterday the highest was “4”. UKIP boosters here on FR seemed to be living in dream land, perhaps believing the parties spin that they would win an appreciable number of seats.
They reelected the former Tory MP who switched parties to join them and Farange might yet win himself but the bottom line, UKIP will not be a force in Parliament (and he seems like a poor leader to me). They do get a symbolic win, third place in the popular vote. I think they didn’t get as many votes as they could have because people didn’t want to risk Labour taking seats from their Tory MPs so they stuck with the Tories in the end.
Looks like Tories will come away with a net gain, near a majority, and Labour a net loss (SNP near sweep in Scotland).
I know nobody here likes Cameron, including me, but I’m pleased it looks like he’ll stay on, maybe with Northern Irish Unionist support (they gained 2 seats, DUP at 8 UUP at 2), rather than Red Ed Milliband taking over. It would be a bare majority but free of the influence of Clegg’s Lib Dems, who are nearly wiped out. They might back Cameron too but I don’t know, the reason they lost most their support is because their left-leaning voters hated that they backed Cameron and they would be even less keen in working with the DUP.
Another election soon is very possible.
I’ve never been shy about poking fun at UKIP and Farage, and thought it wildly optimistic that the party would ever be a force, particularly if Labour won. UKIP hit its highwater when it took those couple of dozen seats in the EU parliament — but have been marginalized ever since, and that may have had some impact on yesterday’s vote.
Naturally the “uniparty” jokers were out in force about that, and were, as always, wrong and wrongheaded. There’s no way to like everything Cameron has done (his embrace of the homosexual agenda, for example), but whatever his faults and those of the Tories, they remain the best viable choice.
By the time the next election rolls around, people will be surprised at the transformation Cameron has managed — not just minor tweaks in governance, but also in his rehabilitation of the reputation and fortunes of the CP. Again, naturally, there will be those who heap scorn on that idea.