Mr Hague also joked that he knew how Opposition victories in by-elections, local elections and European elections were no guide to a party’s real strength in a general election.
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“Effectively the electoral process is now dead”, he said in the interview.
Turnout was higher than expected at just over 40pc, and Labour’s success appears to have been partly secured by an effective postal vote operation.
I suggest he tells his leader, Jeremy Corbyn, exactly that, because Corbyn is the man who believes terrorists shouldn’t be shot or bombed and that we should not have a nuclear deterrent.
He told the BBC on Friday that “people [were] turning up at polling stations with bundles of postal votes”.
Ukip leader Farage tweeted: “As a veteran of over thirty by-elections I have never seen such a perverse result”. Serious concerns, should they exist, should be passed to the police, he said. He had to back down as it became clear that many in his shadow cabinet wouldn’t vote with him, and trying to dictate how they voted would lead to mass resignations. “One of the boxes we looked at was 99 percent in favor of Labour and that doesn’t seem to be in tune with modern liberal democracy”. We won every ward hands down.
Bickley also increased Ukip’s share of the vote in the seat to 23.4%, but the contest was predicted to be a much closer run thing.
Voters are going to the polls in Oldham West and Royton – a seat Labour has held for nearly 50 years. That would make it fair again.
Mr McMahon, the leader of Oldham Council, said: ” I am delighted to have been elected tonight. While everyone is looking the other way they are quietly pushing through cuts that will change the face of towns like Oldham. ‘The hard work starts now’.
Political scientist John Curtice said Labour’s win was “nothing exceptional”, adding that the rise in its share of the vote was in line with by-election increases during the last parliament in 2010-2015.
“It shows just how strong, how deep rooted and how broad our party, the Labour Party is for the whole of Britain”.
Lots of people flag the fact that Ukip are second in lots of seats but they often fail to mention that the party is typically 20 or 30 points behind the incumbent. Indeed, his party’s share of the vote rose, from 54.8% in May to 62.2%. Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, hailed the result as “very, very good for Mr Corbyn”. And, although some traditional Labour supporters were heard during the campaign expressing doubts about Mr Corbyn’s credibility in matters of national security, they were not numerous enough to overturn a big majority.
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Mr Farage has made a series of visits to Oldham, while Mr Corbyn has only campaigned there once – and was forced to cancel an appearance last week as he dealt with internal divisions over air strikes on Islamic State in Syria.
