Who became UKIP's first MP when he won the Clacton by-election in October 2014?
2014 Clacton by-election 2014 Clacton by-election The Clacton by-election was held on 9 October 2014 for the United Kingdom House of Commons constituency of Clacton. The by-election was triggered by the Conservative MP for Clacton, Douglas Carswell, defecting to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and subsequently resigning his seat to seek re-election as its candidate. Standing for UKIP, Carswell retained the seat with 59.7% of the vote, becoming UKIP's first elected MP. The Conservatives came second, and Labour third. According to John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, the result was the biggest increase in the share of a vote for any
2014 Clacton by-election Clacton campaign. During the campaign, a second Conservative MP and close friend of Carswell, Mark Reckless, likewise defected to UKIP and sought re-election in a by-election for his constituency of Rochester and Strood. Tendring District Council, the local authority administering the by-election, confirmed the deadline for nominations as 4 pm on 16 September 2014. Carswell announced that he would stand again for the seat as UKIP's candidate, although he was opposed by the recently selected UKIP candidate, Roger Lord, with some local activists speculating that they might not adopt Carswell. However, UKIP rules for selecting by-election candidates invested the decision