It is always difficult to extrapolate from the result of a by-election what wider messages the voters have sent to politicians and how they might affect the parties' prospects in other areas.

So, is it possible to draw anything about Kent's political landscape from the outcome of the Eastleigh by-election?

Only in general terms, perhaps - particularly given that this was a seat where there was a two-way fight between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives which really has no parallel in most of the county's parliamentary constituencies.

The Liberal Democrats did not so much gallop to victory as hang on by their fingernails, which against the backdrop of the Chris Huhne affair and the Lord Rennard allegations, was arguably no mean feat.

The Conservatives had a miserable result, losing ground yet again to UKIP in a result that suggested that David Cameron's pledge for an "in-out" referendum on the EU did not help shore up the party's core vote.

That will worry Kent Tories who are very jittery about UKIP and see Nigel Farage's party as more of a threat to their prospects at May's county council election than anyone else. It was interesting to hear Michael Gove cite immigration as one of the "doorstep" issues mentioned by voters during the Eastleigh campaign - that, coupled with voters' concerns over the EU - make UKIP more than just a natural repository for protest votes.

Cameron's dilemma is whether to stick to the centre ground or adopt more right-wing policies to neutralise the UKIP threat.

For evidence closer to home of the potential for UKIP to take votes away from the Conservatives, the result of a by-election in Ashford is telling: UKIP came third in a contest won by Labour (it was a safe seat) but came within two votes of beating the Conservatives to take second place.

On the other hand, Labour should be equally alarmed that Ed Miliband's efforts to depict his party as a "one nation" party appears to have had little resonance with voters.

The phenomenon of Labour's "southern discomfort" is something the party is desperate to resolve: if it cannot attract voters back in the constituencies in Kent that it won during the Blair era, it will not be in a position to form the next government.

Eastleigh was never a seat where Labour had any chance of winning but it will have to ask why, given all the coalition's woes, it did not fare better.

UKIP didn't win but will undoubtedly be happiest at its surge in the polls.

The question now is whether in places like Kent, it can sustain its momentum in a way which means it is regarded by voters as  legitimate part of the political mainstream - and not just somewhere to register a protest against the others.

Dear Dave,

For around about the past five years, we’ve been wondering if we’re going to have a massive airport plonked on our Towns.

We’ve had to deal with speculation, smoke signals, winks and nods. This month is supposed to be the month we begin to get somewhere with the start of a consultation into the idea.

But yet again there is speculation that the process could be beset with more delays.

There’s talk the consultation could be pushed back until September and the final decision until after the election in 2015.

We want answers and are tired of waiting.

You may want to build a time machine and fast forward to 2015 so you can get rid of those pesky Liberal Democrats, but the people of Medway aren’t very keen on going through three more years of uncertainty.

You’re going to upset people no matter what you decide to, so don’t dither again, bite the bullet and make a decision.

Yours in frustrated anticipation,

Medway

--

QUOTE of the week from MP Mark Reckless: “My interest in airports first came about because, at a time when many boys want to be train drivers, my younger brother had an ambition to be an airport manager.

“Consequently, whenever we went on holiday, my indulgent parents would take us to the airport four or five hours before we needed to be there, and my brother would go around and catalogue the catering outlets and investigate the cleaning rosters.

“I was delighted, a few years later, when he decided that he actually wanted to be a doctor.”

DAVID Cameron has admitted to eating a pasty - but Number 10 has refused to reveal any further details regarding his proclivity for pie-eating.

The revelation came following Chancellor George Osborne’s admission that he was “unable to recall” the last time he had purchased a pasty.

Mr Cameron was quick to quell whispers that he too did not enjoy the palatable-pastry pickings, claiming to be a “keen pasty-eater”.

To prove it he showed a picture of his pasty cellar.

Mr Cameron, who wore a blue suit and a keen smile, went on to tell reporters this morning that he recently bought “a large one” from the West Cornwall Pasty Company's outlet at Leeds station.

“I love a hot pasty,” Mr Cameron added, keen to plug his pasty point.

Shares in the West Cornwall Pasty Company have since fallen sharply, with consumers and investors keen not to align themselves with Mr Cameron’s pasty passion.

Missing the point, Labour leader Ed Miliband held a press conference outside Greggs in Redditch, where he and Shadow Pasty Minister Ed Balls bought eight sausage rolls.

He told reporters: "There is a serious point here,” and ate a sausage roll.

There were shouts of  “do you know what a pasty is Mr Miliband?” to which he proudly held up his sausage roll and took another bite.

Shares in Greggs have since fallen sharply, with consumers and investors keen not to align themselves with Mr Miliband or Balls.

Since then, concerns about the "complexity" of the pie tax and the sun-cloud ratio to heat on the streets have been raised.

In simple, plebby terms, temperatures outside the confines of a shop counter dictate whether VAT is added to a pasty.

“A lukewarm pasty from Greggs is not VAT-able because the ambient temperature outside is the reference point,” said some Labour politician, adding: “It is an extraordinarily complex situation.”

The MET office later confirmed that it was able to measure temperatures ensuring VAT added to pies would be done correctly.

Sales of thermometers rose sharply with consumers keen to measure temperature to ensure they were being charged the correct price.

But what does this latest pie tax mean to the people of Kent?

Isn’t it time that all district and county officials revealed whether or not elected representatives of us - the people - have ever eaten a pasty?

I for one would be extremely keen on finding this information out and everyone has the right to know whether KCC leader Paul Carter knows what a pasty is and whether he has eaten one.

I would also urge Number 10 to release a full list of all pasties eaten by Mr Cameron, his cabinet and MPs across the country. Including the Lords and especially John Prescott.

Try as they might, the Conservatives have an unfortunate habit of scratching at a running sore that might be better left alone. Last night's rebellion, joined by four Kent backbenchers, was undeniably an embarrassment for David Cameron who seemed to have misjudged the mood among the ranks quite badly.

Kent MPs who joined revolt>>>

More than that, however, it exposes him to the damaging accusation that he presides over a disunited party and if there is one thing voters dislike more than anything, it is the sense that there is a split in the government.

His problem is that dissident Euro-sceptic backbenchers are a notoriously tenacious bunch, as unlikely to give up the cause as a dog with a tasty bone. The attritional warfare that blighted John Major in the 1990s sapped his government's energy and credibility over time and Cameron will have to do something to avoid a repetition. At the moment, his argument that powers are being repatriated strikes me as weak, largely because not many people understand the policy.

Adam Holloway, who quit as the PPS to the European minister, to join the revolt, was right to demolish the rather lame government line that 'now was not the right time' for a referendum. 

My suspicion is that rather more Kent backbenchers might have liked to join the rebellion. One interesting footnote to the debate is that back in 1996, when Bill Cash - the arch Eurosceptic - was causing his government so much grief - two of the county's MPs backed his Bill to force a referendum on our membership of the EU: Canterbury's Julian Brazier and North Thanet's Roger Gale.

ONCE again Gordon Brown has been made to look meaningless and moronic - not as an aspiring PM but because he couldn’t even get hacked by The Sun.

If you think about the people who have been supposedly hacked - Chris Tarrant, Sienna Miller, Hugh Grant – even comatose Prime Minister Gordon Brown couldn’t get his tedious tones listened in on.

Today’s front page screams “BROWN WRONG” after The Sun found the chap who knew Brown’s son had cystic fibrosis. The paper then got him to sign an affidavit saying he’d never seen the medical records.

That’s probably the end of that, though I expect Brown’s suggestion that The Sun is fallacious in its reporting means numerous stories about him being a “bit of a tosser” are likely to appear over the next few days.

It’s a bit annoying to be honest, because everyone who had been hacked was doing so well at telling the truth and getting it out there. We all laughed and cheered and clapped when Steve Coogan went mental at Paul McMullan on Newsnight. Question Time has never been so exciting. Ever.

People rallied around, in the streets ashen-faced protestors would come up to you and side-by-side you’d stand demanding Murdoch’s head be displayed on a spike. And then bumbling Gordon Brown comes along and cocks it all up.

Of course, Brown’s real gripe is that the Murdoch Empire turned on him when he wanted re-election and instead backed Cameron. Whatever you think about newspapers winning elections, having The Sun behind you surely helps in your campaign.

I can’t imagine why Brown decided to go with this story though as it has since emerged that after claiming to “cry” when Rebekah Brooks told him what she was going to run, he subsequently went to her wedding and attended her birthday party.

Anyway, this story is impossible to keep up with and by the time this has been posted I expect something else ground-breaking would have emerged, like Rupert Murdoch eating a swan off a writhing and naked Rebekah Brooks in a pool of Vimto.

When voters in Kent go to the polls in 2015 to elect a new government, will they be pausing in the ballot box to reflect on how the government handled the hacking scandal and David Cameron's choice of Andy Coulson as his press chief?

No, tof course they won't. The state of the economy, the health service, schools and the nation's general prospects will be far more important and the conclusions of a Judicial inquiry into the Press will not be foremost in voters' minds.

Nevertheless, our view of politicians is influenced as much by what we think about their personal judgements and character as it by how they have run the country.

Which is why David Cameron is, arguably for the first time, finding people wondering about his sureness of touch and why it matters how he is responding to the current hacking scandal.

You won't find many people who will now give him credit for appointing Andy Couslon and, if it turns out that he is charged and convicted, people will wonder even more about the decision.

Like Blair, Cameron has (notwithstanding his Eton background) sought to capitalise on the sense that he is a "regular guy" who "gets it" when it comes to how the public view the government and its actions in responding to the kind of everyday challenges and problems most of us have.

But he has been on the back foot for much of this week and his usual adroitness in identifying with the general climate of public opinion over an issue has deserted him. 

He is now discovering how easy it is for the public's trust and faith to be eroded. Trust and integrity are incredibly valuable commodities for any politician.

And for a leader, it can be fatal to appear to be more concerned about the vested interests of commercial conglomerates and big business than the man or woman struggling to get through a recession. He is fortunate that it has not only the Conservatives who have danced to Murdoch's tune over the years.

Cameron has time to recover lost ground. But the hacking scandal has exposed a vulnerability and lack of deftness in the PM that has wounded him and left a nasty scar.