2014 Clacton by-election

The Clacton by-election, 2014 is due to be held on 9 October 2014 for the Westminster constituency of Clacton in Essex. On 28 August 2014 the Conservative MP for Clacton, Douglas Carswell, announced that he was defecting to the UK Independence Party, was resigning from Parliament and that he would stand for the seat as the UKIP candidate in a by-election.

On 4 September 2014, the Conservative Party announced that an open primary is to be held in Clacton on Thursday 11 September 2014, when a Tory candidate to take on UKIP defector Douglas Carswell will be selected.

Background

Douglas Carswell, a Eurosceptic backbencher, said he did not think Prime Minister David Cameron was "serious about the change we need", adding that "many of those at the top of the Conservative Party are simply not on our side":

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 the recall of MPs, on controlling our borders on less government, on bank reform, on cutting public debt, on an EU referendum – they never actually make it happen.

Carswell also stated that local issues regarding planning and overcrowding of GP surgeries were a factor in his decision to resign.

Responding to the news that Carswell had defected and would trigger a by-election, David Cameron said the contest will be held "as soon as possible". He also confirmed that the Conservatives would contest the by-election. It was later announced that the by-election would be held on 9 October, which is Mr Cameron's 48th birthday.

Conservative Reaction

On 29 August 2014, The Daily Telegraph's Peter Oborne wrote that "David Cameron should go down on his knees and beg Mayor of London Boris Johnson to stand as the Conservative Party's candidate for Clacton in the coming by-election." The bookmaker Ladbrokes offered odds of 33/1 that Johnson would stand in Clacton. Johnson had previously indicated that he would apply to stand in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency at the general election. Conservative backbencher Nigel Evans suggested that possibly the Conservatives should not stand in Clacton. Zac Goldsmith MP described Carswell as a "model parliamentarian" and remarked that "I hope he is an MP after 2015". Lord Tebbit said he would refuse to campaign against Carswell, claiming that the "House of Commons needs men like Douglas Carswell".

Candidates

Carswell announced that he would stand again for the seat as UKIP's candidate. However, UKIP's recently selected general election candidate for Clacton, Roger Lord, has said he will not stand down in favour of Carswell and local activists have said that the local party may not be willing to adopt Carswell as the candidate. In addition, Lord hinted to Sky News that he was willing to defect to the Conservatives having described Carswell as 'stupid' and 'gutless'. Anne Poonian, the secretary of the Clacton UKIP association, was quoted as saying:

Carswell's taking a very big risk for getting in for a little party. We may not adopt him as our candidate, who knows? He has to be adopted by us, the local association. At the moment he’s just an unemployed MP. Who knows whether he’ll be adopted? However, UKIP have said that different rules apply to the selection of a candidate at a by-election and that Carswell has been formally and correctly chosen as the candidate.

Colchester Borough Councillor Tim Young had been announced prior to Carswell's resignation as the Labour Party candidate and was later confirmed as their by-election candidate.