Shapps: Eastleigh by-election result 'not terribly surprising'
Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps has said the result of the Eastleigh by-election was not "terribly surprising" and "it is not like our vote collapsed".
The UK Independence Party beat the Conservatives into third place by 1,012 votes in the by-election which was won by the Liberal Democrats.
Conservative candidate Maria Hutchings won 10,559 votes, representing a 14% reduction compared with her share of the vote at the 2010 general election, when she came second to Chris Huhne, whose resignation triggered the poll.