THERE were no big surprises at the North Wiltshire count last night as Conservative candidate James Gray decimated his opposition and held his seat for the fifth time.
Mr Gray’s majority increased by 5.7 per cent, taking him to 57.2 per cent of the total vote.
He said that he was delighted with the result and would continue to represent North Wiltshire as a Conservative in Parliament.
He added: “I am in debt to the people of North Wiltshire and I hope I will repay that debt over the next five years and I hope we will form a strong government.”
His nearest rival, Lib Dem candidate Dr Brian Mathew came in at just 7,892 votes, some 21,000 votes behind the winner.
The Lib Dems were runners up on the night but were also the biggest losers, with a loss of 20 per cent of their vote from 2010 and reeling from the loss of their leader Nick Clegg, who resigned today.
Dr Mathew said that he worried for the country based on the national result but said the Lib Dems would be back to fight another day.
He said: “Our symbol is the phoenix and like the phoenix we will rise from the ashes. We’ve done it before and we will do it again.”
The biggest increase of the evening was for Ukip candidate Pat Bryant, who managed to draw almost a thousand more than Labour and fell 2,000 short of second place.
Early on in the night Pat said she would have been happy with third and explained that her role was just as a stepping stone to the next election.
She said: “I’m absolutely delighted with how it has gone. I think what we are doing here is putting up building blocks for 2020.”
Labour candidate Peter Baldrey and the Green hopeful Phil Chamberlain also put in a convincing showing increasing their percentage of the vote by around 3 per cent each and were both well ahead of the two independent MPs.
Malmesbury’s Simon Killane came in sixth with 390 votes and pub landlord Giles Wareham managed 243 votes on what he admitted was a very short campaign.
Mr Wareham said that he had had some donations to his cause and did not feel like he was losing his whole deposit.
He added: “I don’t think I’ve ever had quite so much fun for £440.”
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