The bookies think UKIP will lose Rochester and Strood at the General Election. I think so too since I met people when I was canvassing for the by-election who told me they were going to vote UKIP but would vote Conservative again when choosing a government next year.

Since UKIP won in Rochester last week by under 3,000 votes it seems likely that UKIP’s cork-popping will indeed be short-lived.

The Lib Dems meanwhile got a miniscule 349 votes which is jaw-droppingly terrible for a mainstream political party.

Where have all the Lib Dems gone?

However, the alleged snobbishness of Labour’s Emily Thornberry stole the show with her tweet about white van man.

When asked what white van conjured up in his mind, Ed Miliband might have said hard work and self reliance, but he didn’t.

On immigration it seems to me that most people understand full well the strictures imposed by our current membership of the EU, but are looking for this to be renegotiated as part of a new deal with Europe.

They would also agree that the new UKIP MP for Rochester’s suggestion that migrants might be repatriated is both cruel and unnecessary.

However, what offends their sense of fair play is the handing of benefits to people who have not contributed significantly to the pot that provides them.

The Government is right in my view to be examining how the system can be made fairer.

I have had quite a lot of correspondence asking me to oppose what are represented as plans to privatise the NHS.

There are no such plans. Thank goodness, the NHS remains free at the point of need but that is not to say that patients can’t be treated on the NHS in non-NHS hospitals.

Indeed, locally they have been for several years, for example, at the Shepton Mallet treatment centre – and the feedback I have had has been highly positive.