Shropshire landowner William Cash fails to grab seat for Ukip
Shropshire landowner William Cash failed to shake up the constituency of North Warwickshire.
There was no change in the Midlands seat, despite a strong performance from Upton Cressett-based Mr Cash, who polled a healthy 8,256 votes for the UK Independence Party.
Craig Tracey held the seat – a key target for Labour – with a greatly increased majority of almost 3,000.
At the last election, Conservative Dan Byles took the seat from Labour's Mike O'Brien with a wafer-thin majority of 54.
Mr O'Brien, a former health minister who had held the seat since 1992, had attempted to regain the seat for Labour, but saw his share of the vote slide by four per cent.
Mr Cash, who defected to Ukip from the Conservatives last year – much to the chagrin of his father, the Tory MP for Stone Sir Bill Cash – finished a strong third, taking 17.4 per cent of the vote – up by 14.6 per cent compared to the 2010 election.
There was humiliation for Liberal Democrat Alan Beddow, who polled just 978 votes – down from 5,481 for the party in 2010.
Results: Craig Tracey (Con), 20,042; Mike O'Brien (Lab) 17,069; William Cash (Ukip) 8,256; Alan Beddow (Lib Dem) 978; Ian Bonner (Green) 894; Eileen Hunter (TUSC) 138.
