{"id":402,"date":"2016-10-24T12:30:18","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T11:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/?p=402"},"modified":"2016-10-24T12:30:18","modified_gmt":"2016-10-24T11:30:18","slug":"britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain&#8217;s first post-Brexit by-election a triumph for Liberal Democrats"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 754px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/202\/142668\/width754\/image-20161021-1748-14sworz.jpg\" width=\"754\" height=\"494\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robert Courts won for the Conservatives but on a dramatically reduced majority. PA\/Chris Radburn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For those who like to read the runes of politics, parliamentary by-elections are a gift. Each local area of course has its own characteristics but these contests offer a snapshot verdict on the government and major parties between general elections. It\u2019s also a chance for those parties to try out and refine campaigning techniques.<\/p>\n<p>The Witney by-election, caused by the resignation of former prime minister David Cameron, has certainly given us something to pore over.<\/p>\n<p>By all accounts this is one of the safest Tory seats in the country \u2013 Cameron took 60% of the vote in the 2015 election. West Oxfordshire Council is Tory run and, although there are pockets of relative deprivation, the constituency is generally rural and affluent.<\/p>\n<p>And indeed, the Conservative candidate won the by election on October 21. But the significance in Witney lies less in which party won than in the performance of the parties that didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center zoomable\">\n<p><figure style=\"width: 754px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/202\/142664\/area14mp\/image-20161021-1778-1ha5y7z.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/202\/142664\/width754\/image-20161021-1778-1ha5y7z.png\" width=\"754\" height=\"251\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Back in the game. Paula Keaveney, Author provided<\/figcaption><\/figure><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After being almost totally wiped out in the 2015 election, the one-time coalition partners increased their vote share by 23% in Witney, beating Labour to come in second place behind the Conservatives. There was a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.libdemvoice.org\/witney-result-biggest-con-to-lib-dem-swing-since-the-1997-winchester-byelection-52214.html\">swing<\/a> to the Lib Dems of just over 19%, denting the Conservative majority by around 20,000 votes.<\/p>\n<p>The Lib Dems have a reputation as a formidable by-election fighting team. Actually this reputation is based on events quite some time ago. Since 2007 the party has performed relatively poorly with tiny increases and some falls in percentage vote share. Even Eastleigh, which the party <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Eastleigh_by-election,_2013\">held in 2013<\/a> after Chris Huhne\u2019s resignation, saw a large drop in vote share.<\/p>\n<p>So party organisers will be <a href=\"http:\/\/www.libdemvoice.org\/witney-result-biggest-con-to-lib-dem-swing-since-the-1997-winchester-byelection-52214.html\">extremely satisfied<\/a> with this result. It indicates that the Lib Dem campaign machine is working again. Considerable effort went into encouraging activists to making phone calls to voters \u2013 or making the journey to Witney \u2013 and at times it was hard to walk down a street without seeing a Lib Dem campaigner. Labour was less obvious on the ground, although the party had clearly worked in its areas of strength, as demonstrated by the number of posters in some pockets of support.<\/p>\n<p>It also shows that there are Conservative supporters who will swap to the Lib Dems. That may indicate that they are unhappy with the whole Brexit saga (Witney voted to remain) or with new prime minister, Theresa May.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2015 election results in Witney<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center zoomable\">\n<p><figure style=\"width: 754px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/202\/142663\/area14mp\/image-20161021-1796-11hhg9k.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/202\/142663\/width754\/image-20161021-1796-11hhg9k.png\" width=\"754\" height=\"218\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lib Dem slump. Paula Keaveney, Author provided<\/figcaption><\/figure><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For Labour, I am sure the <a href=\"http:\/\/labourlist.org\/2016\/10\/campaigning-set-to-close-in-camerons-old-seat-as-labour-aims-for-morale-booster\/\">party forums<\/a> will carry arguments about Corbyn\u2019s failure to deliver a challenge to the government here. Witney is not a seat Labour could conceive of winning, but there must be some anxiety at a failure to make progress. The Labour candidate was, after all, a local councillor with a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/duncanenright?ref_src=twsrc%255Egoogle%257Ctwcamp%255Eserp%257Ctwgr%255Eauthor\">core of support<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As for UKIP, it will not be happy to have been beaten into fifth position below the Greens. We\u2019ll never know how much the fight between two of its MEPs and the ongoing saga <a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2016\/10\/18\/ukip-was-in-a-death-spiral-well-before-steven-woolfe-quit-is-the\/\">around the leadership<\/a> has affected this vote. But common sense tells us that the party is facing not just a series of rows but a crisis of identity. It is impossible to do well in this kind of battle without a clear sense of purpose and message.<\/p>\n<p>The Liberal Democrats clearly approached this race with a clear purpose and have achieved it. A full recovery is still a long way off but the Witney result has brought some much-needed cheer.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\/content\/67471\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/>This article was originally published on <a href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a>. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats-67471\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For those who like to read the runes of politics, parliamentary by-elections are a gift. Each local area of course has its own characteristics but these contests offer a snapshot verdict on the government and major parties between general elections. It\u2019s also a chance for those parties to try out and refine campaigning techniques. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1269,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1688],"tags":[32372,1690,32433,32432],"class_list":["post-402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-brexit","tag-conservatives","tag-liberal-democrats","tag-uk-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Britain&#039;s first post-Brexit by-election a triumph for Liberal Democrats - Comment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Britain&#039;s first post-Brexit by-election a triumph for Liberal Democrats - Comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For those who like to read the runes of politics, parliamentary by-elections are a gift. Each local area of course has its own characteristics but these contests offer a snapshot verdict on the government and major parties between general elections. It\u2019s also a chance for those parties to try out and refine campaigning techniques. The [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-24T11:30:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/files\/142668\/width754\/image-20161021-1748-14sworz.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paula\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paula\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/24\\\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/24\\\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Paula\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bb74b8baa67d445861b99242dc22cbbc\"},\"headline\":\"Britain&#8217;s first post-Brexit by-election a triumph for Liberal Democrats\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-24T11:30:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/24\\\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":630,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/24\\\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/202\\\/142668\\\/width754\\\/image-20161021-1748-14sworz.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Brexit\",\"Conservatives\",\"Liberal Democrats\",\"UK Politics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/24\\\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/24\\\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/24\\\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\\\/\",\"name\":\"Britain's first post-Brexit by-election a triumph for Liberal Democrats - Comment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/24\\\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/24\\\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/202\\\/142668\\\/width754\\\/image-20161021-1748-14sworz.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-24T11:30:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bb74b8baa67d445861b99242dc22cbbc\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/24\\\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/24\\\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/24\\\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/202\\\/142668\\\/width754\\\/image-20161021-1748-14sworz.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/202\\\/142668\\\/width754\\\/image-20161021-1748-14sworz.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/24\\\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Britain&#8217;s first post-Brexit by-election a triumph for Liberal Democrats\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"description\":\"Comment is a collection of views, opinion and insight from Edge Hill University\u2019s academics about topical issues, current events or areas of expertise. Commentators from across the University use this space to discuss their views as well as sharing their own knowledge, research and interests.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bb74b8baa67d445861b99242dc22cbbc\",\"name\":\"Paula\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d62739ea4b08d0de1f416fab16a3a1cee627128edcb75d0769a9ceab1e740113?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d62739ea4b08d0de1f416fab16a3a1cee627128edcb75d0769a9ceab1e740113?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d62739ea4b08d0de1f416fab16a3a1cee627128edcb75d0769a9ceab1e740113?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Paula\"},\"description\":\"Paula Keaveney is a Senior Lecturer in\u00a0 Politics. A former journalist and PR professional, her research interests include political communications, public affairs and PR and marketing in the charity sector. She is the Chair\u00a0 of the\u00a0 Political Marketing Group of the Political Studies Association. She is also a former leader of the opposition on Liverpool City Council.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\\\/comment\\\/author\\\/keavenep\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Britain's first post-Brexit by-election a triumph for Liberal Democrats - Comment","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Britain's first post-Brexit by-election a triumph for Liberal Democrats - Comment","og_description":"For those who like to read the runes of politics, parliamentary by-elections are a gift. Each local area of course has its own characteristics but these contests offer a snapshot verdict on the government and major parties between general elections. It\u2019s also a chance for those parties to try out and refine campaigning techniques. The [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/","og_site_name":"Comment","article_published_time":"2016-10-24T11:30:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/files\/142668\/width754\/image-20161021-1748-14sworz.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Paula","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paula","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/"},"author":{"name":"Paula","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/#\/schema\/person\/bb74b8baa67d445861b99242dc22cbbc"},"headline":"Britain&#8217;s first post-Brexit by-election a triumph for Liberal Democrats","datePublished":"2016-10-24T11:30:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/"},"wordCount":630,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/202\/142668\/width754\/image-20161021-1748-14sworz.jpg","keywords":["Brexit","Conservatives","Liberal Democrats","UK Politics"],"articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/","name":"Britain's first post-Brexit by-election a triumph for Liberal Democrats - Comment","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/202\/142668\/width754\/image-20161021-1748-14sworz.jpg","datePublished":"2016-10-24T11:30:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/#\/schema\/person\/bb74b8baa67d445861b99242dc22cbbc"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/202\/142668\/width754\/image-20161021-1748-14sworz.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/202\/142668\/width754\/image-20161021-1748-14sworz.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/2016\/10\/24\/britains-first-post-brexit-by-election-a-triumph-for-liberal-democrats\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Britain&#8217;s first post-Brexit by-election a triumph for Liberal Democrats"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/","name":"Comment","description":"Comment is a collection of views, opinion and insight from Edge Hill University\u2019s academics about topical issues, current events or areas of expertise. Commentators from across the University use this space to discuss their views as well as sharing their own knowledge, research and interests.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/#\/schema\/person\/bb74b8baa67d445861b99242dc22cbbc","name":"Paula","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d62739ea4b08d0de1f416fab16a3a1cee627128edcb75d0769a9ceab1e740113?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d62739ea4b08d0de1f416fab16a3a1cee627128edcb75d0769a9ceab1e740113?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d62739ea4b08d0de1f416fab16a3a1cee627128edcb75d0769a9ceab1e740113?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Paula"},"description":"Paula Keaveney is a Senior Lecturer in\u00a0 Politics. A former journalist and PR professional, her research interests include political communications, public affairs and PR and marketing in the charity sector. She is the Chair\u00a0 of the\u00a0 Political Marketing Group of the Political Studies Association. She is also a former leader of the opposition on Liverpool City Council.","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/author\/keavenep\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1269"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/comment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}