Eastleigh by-election, 2013

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Eastleigh by-election, 2013
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←  2010 28 February 2013 2015  →
The Eastleigh seat in the House of Commons.
Triggered by vacation of seat by incumbent

 First partySecond party
  Mike Thornton MP at Brighton 2013.jpg Diane James at Eastleigh.png
Candidate Mike Thornton Diane James
Party Liberal Democrat UKIP
Popular vote13,34211,571
Percentage32.1%27.8%
SwingDecrease2.svg14.4%Increase2.svg24.2%
 Third partyFourth party
  No image wide.svg No image wide.svg
CandidateMaria Hutchings John O'Farrell
Party Conservative Labour
Popular vote10,5594,088
Percentage25.4%9.8%
SwingDecrease2.svg13.9%Increase2.svg0.2%
Eastleigh2007Constituency.svg
Map showing the Eastleigh Parliamentary constituency within the English county of Hampshire.
MP before election

Chris Huhne
Liberal Democrat

Subsequent MP

Mike Thornton
Liberal Democrat

The Eastleigh by-election, 2013 was a parliamentary by-election held on 28 February 2013 for the United Kingdom House of Commons constituency of Eastleigh in Hampshire. [1]

By-elections, also spelled bye-elections, are used to fill elected offices that have become vacant between general elections.

United Kingdom constituencies electoral area in the UK (do not use in P31; use subclasses of this instead)

In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elect one member to a parliament or assembly, with the exception of European Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly constituencies which are multi member constituencies.

Eastleigh (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom

Eastleigh is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The current MP is Mims Davies of the Conservative party, first elected in the 2015 general election.

Contents

The election was triggered by the resignation of the sitting MP, Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne, which took effect on 5 February 2013. [2] The resignation coincided with his guilty plea on the eve of a court case in which he and his ex-wife were to be prosecuted for lying to police about a historical speeding offence (committed in 2003 but which only came to light in May 2011). Huhne had already stood down from his position as the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in February 2012 when first charged. [3]

Liberal Democrats (UK) Political party in the United Kingdom

The Liberal Democrats are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. They presently have 11 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 96 members of the House of Lords, and one member of the European Parliament. They also have five Members of the Scottish Parliament and a member each in the Welsh Assembly and London Assembly. The party reached the height of its influence in the early 2010s, forming a junior partner in a coalition government from 2010 to 2015. It is presently led by Vince Cable.

Chris Huhne British politician

Christopher Murray Paul-Huhne, known as Chris Huhne, is an energy and climate change consultant and formerly a British journalist and politician who was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Eastleigh from 2005 to 2013 and the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2010 to 2012. From September 2013 to August 2014 he wrote a weekly column for The Guardian.

Members of Parliament (MPs) sitting in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom are technically not permitted to resign their seats. To circumvent this prohibition, MPs who wish to resign can ask to be appointed to an "office of profit under the Crown", disqualifying them from sitting as MPs. While offices of profit are no longer disqualifying in general, various offices that no longer have duties associated with them still cause disqualification from and vacation of the seat.

Mike Thornton retained the seat for the Liberal Democrats, though with a reduced majority compared with the 2010 general election. UKIP came second with a greatly increased share of the vote, the Conservatives came third, and Labour fourth. [4] Following the election result, UKIP leader Nigel Farage and Conservative candidate Maria Hutchings each blamed the other party for splitting the vote and allowing the Liberal Democrats to win. [5]

Mike Thornton (politician) British politician

Michael Douglas Thornton is a British politician and former Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Eastleigh in Hampshire. He was elected in the Eastleigh by-election held on 28 February 2013, a seat which he lost at the 2015 general election.

Nigel Farage British politician and former commodity broker

Nigel Paul Farage is a British politician, broadcaster, campaigner, political analyst and former businessman currently serving as Leader of the Brexit Party since 2019 and as a Member of the European Parliament for the South East England constituency since 1999. Outside of his Brexit Party and MEP duties, he also serves as a Vice-Chairman of the pro-Brexit organisation Leave Means Leave, and is the host of The Nigel Farage Show, a live radio phone-in on the Global-owned station LBC.

Selection of candidates

The Statement of Persons Nominated was published on 13 February and confirmed 14 candidates for the by-election. [6] The defending party, the Liberal Democrats, nominated Eastleigh Borough Council councillor Mike Thornton. [7] [8]

Maria Hutchings, the Conservatives' candidate at the General Election, was chosen as the candidate for the by-election on 7 February. [9] Hutchings came to prominence in 2005 when she interrupted a live television phone-in with the then Prime Minister Tony Blair. [10] She said that she would vote for Britain to leave the EU and would have voted against gay marriage. [11] She also identified as pro-life and says that she is not a "Tory toff".

Tony Blair Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997. As of 2017, Blair is the last UK Labour Party leader to have won a general election.

The Labour Party chose author and broadcaster John O'Farrell as its candidate on 12 February. [12] [13] Having received during the campaign negative coverage of selected quotations from a book he wrote in 1998, in which he recalled the Brighton bomb attacks against the Conservative Party and then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, [14] [15] O'Farrell reflected after polling day that the experience was enough to put him off electoral politics for good. [16] [17]

The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom which has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The party's platform emphasises greater state intervention, social justice and strengthening workers' rights.

John O'Farrell is a British author and comedy scriptwriter. Previously a lead writer for such shows as Spitting Image and Have I Got News For You, he is now best known as a comic author for such books such as The Man Who Forgot His Wife and An Utterly Impartial History of Britain. He is one of a small number of British writers to have achieved best-seller status with both fiction and non-fiction. He has also published three collections of his weekly column for The Guardian and set up Britain's first daily satirical news website NewsBiscuit. He co-wrote the musical Something Rotten!, which opened on Broadway in April 2015, and has been commissioned to co-write a Broadway musical of Mrs. Doubtfire. In September 2017, he published Things Can Only Get Worse?, a sequel to the 1998 political memoir that originally made his name. His books have been translated into around thirty languages and adapted for radio and television.

Margaret Thatcher former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold that office. A Soviet journalist dubbed her "The 'Iron Lady'", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As Prime Minister, she implemented policies known as Thatcherism.

UKIP Eastleigh selected candidate Diane James, a Councillor from Ewhurst in Waverley, Surrey, who was elected there as an independent and subsequently joined UKIP. [18] [19] [20] [21] The party's leader, Nigel Farage, previously contested the seat at a by-election in 1994. [22] [23] [24] While he initially said he would consider standing again, he decided not to after much media speculation. [25]

The English Democrats fielded Michael Walters, the South East Area Secretary of the party.

The Christian Party candidate was Kevin Milburn. He said "I am standing in this election to allow voters the opportunity to show their disapproval of this Government over many issues, including their attack on marriage. The Government has upset vast swathes of the population with this ill-conceived Bill." [26]

The Monster Raving Loony Party, which stood in the 1994 by-election, selected its leader Howling Laud Hope as its candidate. [27]

On 8 February, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition announced that it had chosen Darren Procter, secretary of the Southampton Shipping branch of the RMT union, as their candidate. [28] Procter also serves on the National Executive Committee of RMT. He stood on an anti-austerity platform.

The National Health Action Party, a new party founded in 2012 in response to the Coalition Government's healthcare reforms, selected Dr Iain Maclennan, a local doctor and former Royal Navy medical officer, as their candidate. [29]

Independent candidate Danny Stupple stood in protest at gay marriage and what he describes as the party "machine" pushing it through Parliament. [30]

The Wessex Regionalist Party fielded the party's president, Colin Bex, as its candidate.

Polling

Date(s)
conducted		Polling organisation/clientSample size LD Con UKIP Lab Others Lead
28 FebEastleigh by-election, 2013 Result42,64932.1%25.4%27.8%9.8%4.9%4.3%
22–24 Feb Populus/The Times 1,00233%28%21%12%6%5%
21–22 Feb Populus/Sunday Times 1,00133%28%21%11%4%5%
18–22 Feb Survation/Mail on Sunday 54329%33%21%13%4%4%
6–8 Feb Survation/Mail on Sunday 50436%33%16%13%2%3%
4–5 Feb Populus 1,00631%34%13%19%3%3%
6 May 2010 Results (Eastleigh only) 53,65046.5%39.3%3.6%9.6%1.0%7.2%

Result

The Liberal Democrats' win was their first in a by-election since Dunfermline and West Fife seven years earlier. It was also their first by-election win under the leadership of Nick Clegg. The UKIP vote was their highest yet in any parliamentary election (in both share and number of votes), and was the fourth time the party had come second in a by-election. At the time, it was also the closest UKIP had come to winning a Westminster seat.[ citation needed ]

With less than 7% of the vote separating the top three candidates, it was the closest three-way result in an English by-election for over 90 years (in Penistone in 1921 there was 6% between the top three). It was also the first time since the 1989 Richmond by-election that Labour had come fourth while in opposition.

ElectionPolitical resultCandidatePartyVotes%±%
Eastleigh by-election 2013
Resignation of Chris Huhne
Turnout: 41,616 (52.8%) -16.5		 Liberal Democrat hold
Majority: 1,771 (4.3%) -2.9 		Mike Thornton Liberal Democrat 13,34232.1-14.4
Diane James UKIP 11,57127.8+24.2
Maria Hutchings Conservative 10,55925.4-13.9
John O'Farrell Labour 4,0889.8+0.2
Danny Stupple Independent 7681.8N/A
Iain Maclennan National Health Action 3920.9N/A
Ray Hall Beer, Baccy and Crumpet2350.6N/A
Kevin Milburn Christian 1630.4N/A
Howling Laud Hope Monster Raving Loony 1360.3N/A
Jim Duggan Peace 1280.3N/A
David Bishop Elvis Loves Pets 720.2N/A
Michael Walters English Democrat 700.1-0.3
Daz Proctor TUSC 620.1N/A
Colin Bex Wessex Regionalist 300.1N/A
ElectionPolitical resultCandidatePartyVotes%±%
General election 2010   [31]
Turnout: 53,650 (69.3%) +4.9		 Liberal Democrat hold
Majority: 3,864 (7.2%)
Swing: 3.0% from Con to Lib Dem 		Chris Huhne Liberal Democrat 24,96646.5+8.2
Maria Hutchings Conservative 21,10239.3+2.1
Leo Barraclough Labour 5,1539.6−11.5
Ray Finch UKIP 1,9333.6+0.2
Tony Pewsey English Democrat 2490.5N/A
Dave Stone Independent 1540.3N/A
Keith Low National Liberal Party – Third Way 930.2N/A

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Date set for Eastleigh by-election". BBC. 6 February 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  2. ↑ "Press Notice – Three Hundreds of Chiltern". HM Treasury. 5 February 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
  3. ↑ "Chris Huhne admits perverting the course of justice". BBC. 4 February 2013.
  4. ↑ "Eastleigh by-election: 'Great honour' for winner Mike Thornton'". Bbc.co.uk. 2013-03-01. Retrieved 2013-05-24.
  5. ↑ Robin Brant (2013-03-01). "Eastleigh by-election: Lib Dems hold on despite UKIP surge". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-05-24.
  6. ↑ [ dead link ]
  7. ↑ "Profile – Cllr. Mike Thornton". Eastleigh Borough Council . Retrieved 10 February 2010.
  8. ↑ "Eastleigh by-election: Mike Thornton chosen as Lib Dem candidate". BBC. 9 February 2013.
  9. ↑ "Eastleigh by-election: Maria Hutchings to stand for Conservatives". BBC. 7 February 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  10. ↑ "The moment the Tories' Eastleigh candidate ambushed Tony Blair". Political Scrapbook. 8 February 2013.
  11. ↑ Tweedie, Neil; Dominiczak, Peter (8 February 2013). "Eastleigh by-election: Why Eastleigh could soon turn beastly". The Daily Telegraph .
  12. ↑ Eastleigh – The Shortlist LabourList
  13. ↑ Ferguson, Mark (7 February 2013). "Labour's selection Timetable for Eastleigh announced".
  14. ↑ Ed Miliband’s pathetic silence over Labour candidate’s sick attack on Lady Thatcher shows poor leadership The Daily Telegraph
  15. ↑ Fury over 'moral reprobate' Labour candidate who wrote of disappointment that Mrs Thatcher didn't die in the Brighton bomb The Daily Mail
  16. ↑ My Eastleigh experience was enough – I won't stand for election in 2015 The Guardian
  17. ↑ Labour's John O'Farrell Won't Stand In 2015 Election, After Eastleigh Fourth Place The Huffington Post
  18. ↑ Profile – Councillor Diane James Waverley Borough Council
  19. ↑ "Diane James, our choice for Eastleigh". UKIP. 11 February 2013.
  20. ↑ "UKIP hope". Eastleighnews.co.uk. 11 February 2013. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  21. ↑ "Eastleigh by-election candidate list". BBC. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  22. ↑ Landale, James (4 February 2012). "Huhne triggers coalition by-election battle". BBC. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  23. ↑ Farage, Nigel (5 February 2013). "Why I will not fight the Eastleigh by-election". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  24. ↑ Maddox, David (4 February 2013). "Nigel Farage to decide on Eastleigh by-election". The Scotsman . Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  25. ↑ Hope, Christopher (5 February 2013). "Exclusive: Nigel Farage will not fight Chris Huhne seat". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  26. ↑ "Kevin Milburn – Christian Party – VIDEO (From Daily Echo)". Dailyecho.co.uk. 24 February 2013. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  27. ↑ "Twitter / LoonyPartyNews". Official Monster Raving Loony Party. 6 February 2013.
  28. ↑ "RMT executive member Darren Procter to stand in Eastleigh by-election". Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. 8 February 2013.
  29. ↑ "Former Local Lib Dem activist and ex-NHS chief defects to National Health Action Party". National Health Action Party. 10 February 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  30. ↑ [ dead link ]
  31. ↑ "Statement of persons nominated, notice of poll and situation of polling stations" (PDF). Eastleigh Borough Council. 20 April 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
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