UK’s Cameron suffers severe blow in polls
UK’s Cameron suffers severe blow in polls
![UK’s Cameron suffers severe blow in polls](http://image.hurimg.com/i/hurriyet/75/0x0/59c77c7045d2a027e83ad0ec.jpg)
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.”