Tories beaten by UKIP in Hartlepool

2.30.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 1st Oct 2004

The Conservatives have been beaten in the fourth place in Hartlepool by-election, being beaten by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and UKIP. This is an amazing result as they were in second place in the 2001 General Election.

The by-election was the fourth by-election in a row where the Conservatives were in second place in 2001 and have been overtaken by the Liberal Democrats, this by-election is the first where the Conservatives have been beaten into fourth. It is also the first time since World War Two that the Official Opposition have not been in the top three in an English by-election.

The full result was:

Iain Wright Labour 12,752 40.66% -18.49%

Jody Dunn Liberal Democrat 10,719 34.18% +19.15%

Stephen Allison UKIP 3,193 10.18%

Jeremy Middleton Conservative 3,044 9.71%-11.15%

John Bloom Respect 572 1.82%

Iris Ryder Green 255 0.81%

James Starkey National Front 246 0.78%

Paul Watson Fathers 4 Justice 139 0.44%

Christopher Herriot Socialist Labour 95 0.30% -2.09%

Richard Rodgers The Common Good 91 0.29%

Philip Berriman Independent) 90 0.29%

Alan Hope Monster Raving Loony 80 0.26%

Ronnie Carroll Independent 45 0.14%

Edward Abrams English Democrats 41 0.13%

Labour majority 2,033 6.48%

18.82% swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrat