BRITAIN: Britain's Conservative Party acknowledged "a very disappointing" performance after its candidate crashed to fourth place behind the United Kingdom Independence Party in Thursday's Hartlepool by-election, writes Frank Millar.
However the party's shadow defence secretary, Mr Nicholas Soames, broke the usual diplomatic veneer and admitted it was "a f***ing awful result".
Labour's Mr Iain Wright held the seat vacated by Britain's new European Commissioner, Mr Peter Mandelson, but with his majority slashed from more than 14,000 to just over 2,000 in face of another Liberal Democrat surge.
Speaking after a Westminster press conference, Mr Soames said: "It's a disastrous result but it's only a by-election. There's nothing we can do but take it on the chin and that's the end of it."
But the result marked the worst possible start for the Conservative Party conference in Bournemouth next week.
The Conservative leader, Mr Michael Howard, had attempted to raise spirits before counting began, confidently predicting that his party's "dark days" were over.
But that was before a dark night in which Tory embarrassment was compounded by a decision to seek a recount in the mistaken belief that the Conservative candidate, Mr Jeremy Middleton, had scraped into third place.
Some leading analysts believe Mr Howard's real challenge now is not to persuade anyone he can win the next election but that he knows how to prevent his party imploding after its expected defeat.