'Cameron is not serious about real change to the EU': Tory MP defects to UKIP with stinging attack on Prime Minister - as Farage warns more may follow
Prominent Tory backbencher Douglas Carswell this morning
announced he was defecting to UKIP and resigning from Parliament -
sparking a crunch by-election. Mr Carswell's decision is a major blow to
David Cameron, coming just nine months before the next general
election. The MP for Clacton, Essex, said his position in the
Conservative Party was no longer tenable because Mr Cameron was not
serious about reform of the European Union.
'Cameron is not serious about real change to the EU': Tory MP defects to UKIP with stinging attack on Prime Minister - as Farage warns more may follow
- Clacton MP resigned from the Conservative Party and Parliament today
- He said David Cameron was 'not serious about changes this country needs'
- By-election likely to take place within the next six weeks, possibly October 9
- Mr Carswell will become first elected UKIP Member of Parliament if he wins
- But the defection has sparked a row because UKIP already had a candidate
- UKIP leader Nigel Farage today claimed more MPs were willing to follow
- But the PM today vowed to launch a 'very strong' campaign against UKIP
Prominent
Tory backbencher Douglas Carswell this morning announced he was
defecting to UKIP and resigning from Parliament - sparking a crunch
by-election.
Mr
Carswell's decision is a major blow to David Cameron, coming just nine
months before the next general election, and risks encouraging further
defections.
The
MP for Clacton, Essex, said his position in the Conservative Party was
no longer tenable because Mr Cameron was not serious about reform of the
European Union.
UKIP
leader Nigel Farage claimed many more MPs were 'considering their
options' and would be watching the forthcoming by-election closely.
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Douglas Carswell (right) said his
position in the Conservative Party was untenable because the Prime
Minister was not 'serious' about reform of the European Union
Mr
Farage said: 'I’ve spoken to people in the Conservative Party and in
the Labour Party who do not want Britain to be borderless and who think
this is doing great damage to opportunities for working people.
'Douglas
Carswell has done it. I don’t think he is going to be regarded as an
isolated eccentric. There are other people out there considering their
options.'
Mr
Farage added: 'We’ve talked to Tory and Labour MPs over the last six
months who very strongly support everything Ukip is trying to do. How
many others will join will all depend on this by-election. This
by-election is going to be a high-noon moment.'
Mr Carswell will stand for UKIP in the forthcoming contest which is likely to be held within six weeks, possibly October 9.
The Clacton MP entered Parliament in 2005, and has frequently rebelled over European issues.
He
has a strong personal following in his Clacton constituency after
building up his majority in the nine years he has held the seat. He won
his first election by just 920 votes, but was returned in 2010 with a
12,000 majority.
The backbench MP will become the first ever elected member of Parliament for UKIP if he is returned.
His
announcement this morning came just days after Mr Farage was selected
to run for the party in the South Thanet constituency in next year's
general election.
The Prime Minister today vowed to launch a 'very strong' campaign against Mr Carswell.
Speaking
in Scotland he told the BBC that Mr Carswell's action was
‘self-defeating’. He said: ‘It is obviously deeply regrettable when
these things happen and people behave in this way. But it is also, in my
view, counter-productive,’ he said.
‘If
you want a referendum on Britain's future in the EU, whether we should
stay or go, the only way to to get that is to have a Conservative
government after the next election.
‘That is what until very recently Douglas Carswell himself was saying.’
He
added: ‘Obviously I'll want to make sure (that there is) a very strong
Conservative campaign in that seat, so they can be properly represented
in this Government, and hopefully the next.’
UKIP leader Nigel Farage this morning welcomed Mr Carswell's defection from the Tories
UKIP is targeting a host of seats in the south and east of England in a bid to break into Parliament at the next election
In
a bombshell press conference this morning, Mr Carswell lambasted the
Prime Minister and senior Conservatives for not being ‘serious about
real change’.
Among
a list of criticisms, he insisted that the failure to take a stand
against the European Union was at the heart of his decision.
‘They
are not serious about real change. It's above all the failure to
deliver on the promise of political reform that has driven me to be here
today,’ he said.
‘Europe's
the one continent on the globe that is not growing... Yet who in
Westminster, who among our so-called leaders is prepared to envisage
real change?’
Mr
Carswell said he had been an enthusiastic cheerleader for Mr Cameron's
Bloomberg speech, in which he set out proposals for an in-out referendum
by 2017 if the Tories are in power after next year's general election.
But
he said he did not believe the policy was ‘sincere’, saying the
leadership wanted to secure ‘just enough’ to pretend change was
happening.
‘No one cheered DC's Bloomberg speech more loudly than me... but there's been nothing since. They haven't thought it through.
‘There
is a world of change and opportunity out there... ministers are simply
not up to giving us the kind of realignment we need.’
Mr
Carswell said it would have been easier for him to ‘muddle along’ as a
Tory backbencher until next May, but he wanted to do the ‘honourable
thing'.
‘As
someone who's always answered directly to the independent-minded people
of Essex, there is only one honourable thing for me to do,’ he said.
‘I
must seek permission from my boss, the people of Clacton. I will now
resign from Parliament and stand for Ukip in the by-election that now
follows.’
UKIP’s
only MP to date came when Castle Point MP Bob Spink defected from the
Conservatives in 2008, although he subsequently stood unsuccessfully as
an independent at the 2010 general election.
Mr
Carswell was originally elected as the Conservative MP for Harwich in
2005, but was returned in Clacton in 2010 after boundary changes with a
majority of over 12,000.
The
Tories could be in for a major battle to retain the seat, as Mr
Carswell is known as an independent-minded politician and is believed to
have a significant personal following.
Following his announcement at the press conference, Mr Carswell said he wanted to see ‘fundamental change’ in British politics.
Mr Carswell addresses a press conference in London this morning after being introduced by the UKIP leader Nigel Farage
He
went on: ‘We have had a duopoly for many decades. Look at how the
country has been run. It has been a competition for cliques to sit on
the sofa.
‘We need choice and competition in politics.’
He
said part of the appeal of Ukip was the fact it was a mass membership
organisation that was the ‘property’ of its members, adding that if he
believed the Tory leadership was serious about change he would not have
defected.
But
he insisted the decision had not been an easy one, adding: ‘I have been
a member of the Conservative Party for all my adult life. It is full of
wonderful people who want the best for Britain.
‘The
problem is that many of those at the top of the Conservative Party are
simply not our side. They aren't serious about the change that Britain
so desperately needs.
‘Of
course they talk the talk before elections. They say what they feel
they must say to get our support when they want our support.
‘But
on so many issues, on modernising our politics, on recall of MPs, on
controlling our borders...on bank reform, on cutting public debt, on an
EU referendum, they never actually make it happen.’
He
continued: ‘All three of the other parties seem the same. They have got
swathes of safe seats, they are run by those who became MPs by working
in the offices of MPs.
‘They
use pollsters to tell us what to tell the voters. Politics to them is
about politicians like them. It is a game, a game of spin, position.
First under Tony Blair, then under Gordon Brown, now David Cameron.
‘It
is all about the priorities of which ever tiny clique happens to be
sitting on the sofa in Downing Street, different cliques, same sofa.
‘Few are animated by principle or by passion. Those that are soon get shuffled out the way.’
A
Conservative spokesman said: ‘This is a regrettable and frankly
counterproductive decision. As Douglas Carswell said, the only way to
get a referendum on the EU is to return a majority Conservative
government.’
Leader
of the House of Commons William Hague said Mr Carswell had previously
admitted the only chance of real change in Europe was a majority Tory
government.
‘It
is a regrettable and deeply counterproductive thing to do, because the
only chance of real change in Europe and upholding a referendum in this
country in which the people of this country can decide to stay in or
leave the EU is the election of a Conservative government next May, a
majority Conservative government,’ he said.
‘Anything that makes that harder is damaging the chances of real change in Europe.’
Clacton
Conservative Association Chairman Simon Martin-Redman added: ‘We are
disappointed and surprised that Douglas Carswell has chosen to stand
down. I am a deep seated conservative and so are my management team.
‘We
feel let down and believe it's a regrettable and counter-productive
decision since, as he himself has said, the only way to get a referendum
on the EU is to return a majority Conservative government We are
determined to keep this constituency Conservative.’
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