During the meeting Mr MacKay stated his intention to put himself forward for reselection to his local party and that he wishes to stand again in Bracknell for the next General Election.
The feeling in the hall was very angry towards him and at least 80% of the comments were very negative towards him. There were many accusations put to him about his second homes claim and the ill feeling often spilled over into heckling and shouting with strong words used against him.
However on the media afterwards, Mr MacKay was trying to claim that the feeling of the meeting was with him and that 75% percent or more of the audience were with him. I am afraid that does not reflect the way I saw the meeting from where I was sitting. Watch this clip from BBC News where Mr MacKay is being interviewed by BBC South's Political Editor Peter Henley:
The gentlemen who interrupts Mr MacKay during the interview is absolutely right. He was misrepresenting the view of the meeting and another voice off camera later on points out that despite calls from the floor, the Chair of the meeting (David Osborn, the former Rector of Bracknell) refused to take a show of hands to gauge support towards the end.
In this piece from Sky News, Victoria Gatenby says that is is disingenuous for him to claim that he had the support of the meeting and that support is ebbing away from him, even amongst Conservative activists and that the feeling is he is unlikely to be reselected:
There has been further reaction to this story across the media and internet. Here are some that we have come across:
Here is the BBC News report on the meeting.
John Hicks from Radio Bracknell in a detailed and balanced review of the meeting thinks that the reaction within the hall may have signalled the beginning of the end for Bracknell's MP.
An article in the The Independent about the meeting and its aftermath quotes one of the comments from the floor that I also recall: "I have no wish to be represented by a thief".
This thread on the Conservative Home website (a site for Conservative grassroots activists) demonstrates the depth of Mr MacKay's problems. The majority the more than 40 comments at the end of the blog post are saying that he should stand down or be sacked.
Peter Henley, the BBC South Political Editor (who is an excellent and prodigious user of Twitter) tweeted this morning: "Tories saying MacKay is toast after last night. But spinning that Cameron wants to get in clean skins".
Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. If you attended the meeting, perhaps you could detail your recollections of what happened.
UPDATE: I have also done a more detailed review of the meeting at my own blog "Mark Reckons" here.
