And Then There Was None

[ichkeria]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39393213

Can I get in before mikey?
Next stop for Douglas the Tories again?

[ichkeria]

Mikey still a chance for bronze :-)

[Zacs-Master]

So they all rolled over and one fell out.....

[ichkeria]

They all fell out I think Zacs and then one rolled over, more like :-)

[douglas9401]

I know little of the man but he seems to be a bit, how you say, flighty.

[anneasquith]

Yo got a gold ich. Mike will be kicking himself .

[Zacs-Master]

Ich @ 12:20. LOL.

[mikey4444]

Well done itchy ! I have been out at work all morning....that my excuse !

Just got in though, and can I say straight away, that this news has shocked me to the core. I can't recall having had a bigger shock for many years. I am sat here, ashen-faced.

Here we have an MP, who was the apple of UKIP's eye, and so well thought of by everybody, and especially by Farage, ( who poached him from the Tories such a very short time ago )

And now he is going to stand as an independent !

I am so shocked that I might have to have a very early G+T in order to calm my nerves.

[jno]

it's only reduced Ukip's parliamentary strength by one.

[mikey4444]

lol jno !

I am sure that another of AB's Glee Clubs will be along in a minute, to tell how this is actually a marvellous move for UKIP.

[Kromovaracun]

Farage has been bashing Carswell on his invidious (sorry, "straight-talking") radio show for months, and has called on him to leave the party numerous times. Watching Carswell defend a party he clearly loathes on Question Time in February was stomach-churningly awkward.

Probably a sensible move for him. UKIP is going down the tubes anyway without its famous hijacker.

[mikey4444]

Carswell has said this ::::

"I will not be switching parties, nor crossing the floor to the Conservatives, so do not need to call a by election, as I did when switching from the Conservatives to UKIP. I will simply be the Member of Parliament for Clacton, sitting as an independent"

The people who voted for him, did so because he was the UKIP candidate. Now that he isn't, shouldn't he resign and call a by-election ?

Wouldn't that be the honourable thing to do ?

[anotheoldgit]

anneasquith

/// Yo got a gold ich. Mike will be kicking himself ///

No the gold goes to Samjenko this is just a repeat thread.

[ichkeria]

Yes gold goes to Sam. Almost simultaneous posts I think. Great minds :-)

[anotheoldgit]

Nigel Farage MP for Clacton?

[jno]

mikey: not necessarily. If Carswell continues to vote the way he or Ukip's manifesto promised, the voters should have no complaint. And if he doesn't, they should remind themselves to vote for the person, not the party, next time. Particularly not for a fissiparous bunch like Ukip.

[mikey4444]

jno...Carswelll seems to be contradicting himself here.

He openly admits that when he left the Tories, and joined UKIP, he resigned his seat and caused a by-election.

But there seems to me to be precious little difference in what he is doing today. He will no longer represent Clacton as an UKIP MP. He seems to want his cake and eat it too.

If he was an honourable man, he would follow his own example of August 2014.

[ichkeria]

Carswell's a popular MP. Didn't Arron Banks threaten to stand against him? A shame Carswell's not resigning as that might be interesting...

[mikey4444]

Itchy....whether Carswell is popular or not is a matter on opinion.

In 2014, at his by-election, he got 21,113 votes, and 59.7 % of the electorate.

In 2015, he got 19,642, and only 44.4 %.

In 2015, the Tory candidate nearly doubled his vote from 8,709 to 16,205.

So, its the Tories that would seem to be gaining in popularity in Clacton.

[ichkeria]

Sure I'm not saying he'd win again but part of the reason he got in in 2014 and held off the Tory challenge a year later must have been down to personal appeal. It didn't work for the other Tory refugee Reckless.

[mikey4444]

Itchy...You may be right that Carswell will retain some personal votes. But a big factor in him winning both elections was that he stood in a area that strongly supported BREXIT.