Ist UKIP MP

No surprise in Clacton other than the margin Douglas Carswell won by.

Similar in Heywood and Middleton.

I have a doubt that Mark Reckless will match the Carswell vote but it will be interesting.

UKIP are going to have to have some more scrutiny by the media and I would like Nigel Farage to be included in any Leaders Debate . Whether you like UKIP or Farage that's not a reason to exclude them sharing the debating stage now.

I wouldn't vote UKIP but diss them at your peril, they are undoubtedly tapping into the voter mind set and the political status quo is looking like a thing of the past.

....he uses his buffoon like persona to make racist comments that no other politician dares utter. The man is despicable .

Well said Tegan!

I'm in the north west, not far from Heywood, where Labour managed to win, but only by around 650 votes, with Ukip an uncomfortably close 2nd.

I agree with Tanith, that the old guard need a good shake up. Ukip seems to be doing the trick. I just hope we don't end up with untested, unknown Ukip policies being imposed on the country - that would be scary

Farage is portrayed by the media exactly how he wants to be portrayed. He plays they and the eloctorate like a fiddle. The man is very very [scarily] clever.

tanith NF is usually portrayed by the (hostile) media looking his worst. He was taking a bite of a messy sandwich with huge facial contortions to match in one of today's papers.

On the other hand, I notice the Guardian always manages to portray Nick Clegg looking like a noble, honourable politician.

It's 1984 all over again!

I thought the Clacton mp sounded really good. If they ousted Farage and made this one party leader, it could make a big difference to ther fortunes. He actually sounded like a decent member of Parliament.

I too live in a Tory stronghold - local Tories admit that a monkey wearing a blue rosette would get voted in - so I can't see anyone else making a significant difference yet. It might be different in the long term though as the Green Party are beginning to be seen as a viable alternative to the traditional opposition parties and may even steal a (very) few votes from disaffected conservatives.

Not sure what to think if I'm honest. I like the idea of something new to shake up the 'old guard' but I'm not sure UKIP is it, Nigel Farage makes me cringe every time I see his silly grinning face..

It would take an earthquake to dislodge our MP. Liam Fox.