United Kingdom Independence Party: Special Election

UKIP Dept: The special election result in the southern England town of Eastleigh gives the right-wing United Kingdom Independence Party, or UKIP, a new burst of publicity and could tempt Cameron a centrist who has adopted traditionally left-wing causes including green energy and gay marriage to veer further to the right, according to Calgary Herald. British byelections are a prime time for protest votes and regularly produce upsets, but they're closely watched by pundits and pollsters for signs of voter sentiment. Consigned to an embarrassing No. 3 finish in a town where they've historically been competitive, the Conservatives will now be trying to piece together why voters abandoned them in favour of a marginal party whose animating force is anti-EU sentiment. The central part of its platform calls for Britain to withdraw from the EU and lONDON - David Cameron's Conservative Party suffered an embarrassing defeat Friday when an insurgent, anti-European Union Party knocked his party into third place in a special election. "The Conservative Party are going to have to completely rethink their strategy," said Gerry Stoker, a professor of politics and governance at the nearby University of Southampton. "They cannot afford to ignore UKIP. This indicates that they are a serious threat." (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.