Well, that was tense, and exhausting. We were up all night and in the grey and drizzly dawn I was announced the new MP for East Wiltshire with a majority of 4,700 over Labour. The Lib Dems came third and close behind them, Reform - who did much better than the intelligence we gathered on the doorsteps suggested.
My immediate reaction, apart from deep sadness on behalf of defeated colleagues and trepidation about what a Labour government with a majority this big will do to the country, is frustration that my Party managed to lose so many votes it didn't need to lose. The fact is Labour didn't win at all, expect formally - i.e. it didn't win any more votes than it usually does, but we lost so many votes to Reform and 'stay at home' that we were wiped out in dozens of seats. This was very avoidable, in my view.
Anyway, there will be much soul-searching and - I hope - civil discussion about what just happened, and what we need to do to rebuild. For now let me just say THANK YOU to the people who voted for me, and an EXTRA BIG THANK YOU to my team and all the activists who came out to help me canvass the constituency over the last six weeks. I promise to do my best for everyone who lives in this beautiful part of England, to help them and their families prosper and to preserve all that is good and lovely about our area.
With best wishes
Danny
