The important thing is perhaps not UKIP's vote in itself, but the fact that there were 15 seats that went to Labour rather than the Conservaties and 7 seats that went to the Liberal Democrats rather than the Conservatives because of the UKIP vote. If the Tories had come out with a clearly Eurosceptic stance, they would probably have picked up these votes and a further 22 seats.

Michael Howard obviously respects Australian know-how. A Tory government would presumably show more interest in ties with Commonwealth countries than New Labour has, which would certainly be advantageous for us.

Ian Alexander,
Federal Commonwealth Society