Stunning Conservative win in Norwich North

The Conservatives have taken Norwich North from Labour with a majority of more than 7,000.

The results were

Chloe Smith (Conservative) 13,591
Labour 6,243
Lib Dems 4,803
UKIP 4,068
Green 3,350
Murray (Independent) 953
BNP 941
Holden (Independent) 166
Raving Looney 144
NOTA 59
Libertarian 36
Baggs (Independent) 24


Chloe, who at 27 will be the youngest MP in the House of Commons, paid tribute to outgoing MP Dr Gibson in her victory speech saying she hoped to serve the voters "with the same honesty and conviction".

She said the result sent a signal to Downing Street: "The people of Norwich North have rejected the old politics of personal attacks, of bickering, of smears and scare stories.

"They have voted for change. And in doing so they have sent a message to Gordon Brown very loud and very clear."

BBC political correspondent Carole Walker said it was a "convincing majority", much more than many in the Conservative camp expected and was a "serious blow" for Labour.

Norwich North had gone Conservative in Mrs Thatcher's landslide victories in 1983 and 1987, and been retained on the personal vote of the sitting Conservative, Patrick Thompson, in 1992. Apart from that, until yesterday the seat had returned Labour MPs in every other election since the seat has existed.

In the special circumstances of this by-election, the Conservatives were expected to win, and needed to do so to demonstrate that we are on track to win a majority at the general election. But few people were expecting the Conservatives to beat Labour by more than two-to-one, still less to do so even with UKIP getting more than four thousand votes. However people try to spin it, this is a good result for the Conservatives and a very bad one for Labour.

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