UK’s Cameron suffers severe blow in polls

PM admitted the poll result as disappointing. REUTERS photo

British Prime Minister David Cameron is under pressure after his Conservatives were beaten into third place in a key election by his scandal-hit coalition partners and a eurosceptic party.

Cameron admitted it was a “disappointing” night for his party after the Liberal Democrats held the parliamentary seat of Eastleigh in southern England in a contest billed as the most important British by-election in a generation.

The Conservatives had hoped at least to come in second but they were condemned to third place by the anti-European Union and anti-immigration U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), which registered its best ever performance in a parliamentary election.

The vote was sparked by the resignation of former energy minister Chris Huhne, a Liberal Democrat who has pleaded guilty to trying to avoid a speeding fine, but his disgrace did not harm the party’s vote. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, whose own position as Liberal Democrat leader had been on the line after a collapse in the party’s poll ratings, said the “stunning victory” showed they “can be a party of government and still win.”

UKIP leader Nigel Farage insisted the party’s best ever result in a British election was not a “protest vote.”