Clacton by-election, 2014
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The 2014 by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Clacton in Essex, England, took place on 9 October 2014. 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 Sir John Kevin Curtice (born 10 December 1953) is a British political scientist who is currently professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde and senior research fellow at the National Centre for Social Research. He is particularly in ...
, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, the result was the biggest increase in the share of a vote for any party in any by-election in history.


Background

On 28 August 2014, Douglas Carswell, a
Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...
Conservative backbencher, announced his defection to UKIP and said that he was resigning his seat in order to fight a by-election. He said he did not think Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
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" and "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". He also said: "...local issues regarding planning and overcrowding of GP surgeries were a factor in my decision to resign". Responding to the news that Carswell had defected and would trigger a by-election, Cameron said the contest would 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. The poll was one of two parliamentary by-elections the same day, with an election also being held in the constituency of
Heywood and Middleton Heywood and Middleton is a constituency in Greater Manchester represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Chris Clarkson of the Conservative Party. Constituency profile The constituency covers the west half of the Me ...
following the death of its MP,
Jim Dobbin James Dobbin (26 May 1941 – 6 September 2014) was a British Labour Co-operative politician and microbiologist who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Heywood and Middleton from 1997 until his death in 2014. Early life Jim Dobbin was b ...
of the Labour Party. Analysis of demographics for the constituency prior to the by-election were said to make it the most UKIP-friendly in the country.


2010 general election result

UKIP did not stand a candidate against Douglas Carswell in 2010, citing his Eurosceptic views.


Reaction


Conservative

Most Conservatives condemned Carswell's defection, but some were more supportive of his decision. Cameron called the resignation "deeply regrettable"; he also argued that it was counter-productive, on the grounds that only a Conservative government after the next general election could deliver a referendum on British membership of the EU – an argument echoed by many Conservative MPs, such as Mark Pritchard,
Bernard Jenkin Sir Bernard Christison Jenkin (born 9 April 1959) is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Harwich and North Essex since 2010. He also serves as chair of the Liaison Committee. He was first elected to ...
and Nigel Evans. A spokesman for the party said that the Conservatives would contest the by-election. Evans also suggested, however, that the Conservatives should consider not standing in the by-election, which he called "a total distraction", while the backbencher Zac Goldsmith described Carswell as a "model Parliamentarian" and remarked that "I have nothing but admiration for him". The former Conservative minister
Norman Tebbit Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit (born 29 March 1931) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment (1981–1983), Secretary of State for Trad ...
refused to campaign against Carswell and said " e House of Commons needs men of his quality".
Nick Herbert Nicholas Le Quesne Herbert, Baron Herbert of South Downs, (born 7 April 1963) is a British Conservative Party politician and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Arundel and South Downs from 2005 to 2019. He was Minister of State for Police ...
, a Conservative MP and former policing minister, criticised the Conservative Party for being, in his view, more concerned with the Clacton by-election rather than winning the
Scottish independence referendum A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was, "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side wo ...
, which was held on 18 September 2014, during the Clacton campaign. During the campaign, on 27 September 2014, a second Conservative MP and close friend of Carswell's,
Mark Reckless Mark John Reckless (born 6 December 1970) is a British politician who served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for South Wales East from 2016 until 2021, having previously served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochester and Strood from 2010 to ...
, likewise defected to UKIP and sought re-election in a by-election for his constituency of
Rochester and Strood Rochester and Strood is a constituency in Kent represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Kelly Tolhurst, a Conservative. Since 2022, she has served as Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household. ...
in Kent.


Other reactions

Labour Party leader Ed Miliband called Carswell's resignation "a blow for
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
", and said that it showed that the Conservative Party was divided. Bob Russell, the Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester (which borders the constituency of Clacton), stated that the resignation was a "huge embarrassment" for the party and that Carswell was "far to the right of the party".


Candidates


UKIP

Carswell announced that he would stand again for the seat as UKIP's candidate, although he was opposed by the recently selected UKIP candidate, the councillor Roger Lord. Lord had previously contested three general elections as the UKIP candidate; North Essex in
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
, Colchester in
2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
and Braintree in
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
. Some local activists speculated that they might not adopt Carswell; Anne Poonian, the secretary of the Clacton UKIP association, was quoted by
BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...
saying that, although she welcomed Carswell's decision to defect, he may not be selected. However, UKIP rules for selecting by-election candidates invested the decision with the party's National Executive Committee, which selected Carswell. Lord left UKIP and resigned his County Council seat, supporting the Liberal Democrats in the council by-election.


Conservative

There was speculation that Boris Johnson, the Conservative Mayor of London, would seek the candidacy at the by-election. On 29 August 2014, '' The Daily Telegraph'' journalist Peter Oborne wrote: "
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
should go down on his knees and beg Boris Johnson to stand as the Conservative Party's candidate for Clacton in the coming by-election." Two Conservative MPs, Matthew Offord and
John Stevenson John Stevenson may refer to: Entertainment *John Andrew Stevenson (1761–1833), Irish composer * Steve Brodie (actor) (John Stevenson, 1919–1992), American actor *John Stevenson (writer) (born 1930), British writer of erotic fiction * John Stev ...
, wrote a joint article calling for Johnson to stand in the by-election. The bookmaker Ladbrokes offered odds of 33–1 against Johnson standing in Clacton. He ruled out standing, saying that he was intent on fighting
Uxbridge and South Ruislip Uxbridge and South Ruislip is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The seat has been held by the Conservative Party since its 2010 creation. Since 2015 it has been represented by Boris J ...
at the general election. The Conservative candidate was the actor and Tendring District councillor Giles Watling who was chosen by an open primary, in which 240 local residents voted, on 11 September. He was shortlisted with Colchester councillor Sue Lissimore.


Other candidates

The Colchester councillor Tim Young was selected as the Labour candidate for the constituency in 2013 for the next general election, and became the party's by-election candidate. The Liberal Democrat candidate, Andy Graham, is the former mayor of
Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...
in
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
, as well as an actor and author of children's books. The
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
candidate was the environmentalist Chris Southall, who had stood for the party in previous general and local elections. He gained some notoriety for a
UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
hoax in the 1960s. Alan "Howling Laud" Hope was the candidate for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party. He is also the leader of the party and the former mayor of
Ashburton, Devon Ashburton is a town on the south-southeastern edge of Dartmoor in Devon, England, adjacent to the A38. The town is 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Plymouth and 17 miles (27 km) southwest of Exeter. It was formerly important as a stanna ...
.
Charlotte Rose Charlotte Rose is an English sex worker, dominatrix, sexual trainer and political candidate from Nottingham, who lives in London. In 2013 she won the award of "Sex Worker of the Year" at the Sexual Freedom Awards where she is now a resident judge. ...
and Bruce Sizer were independent candidates. Rose described herself as a "high class courtesan" campaigning "for sexual freedom" and improved sex education in schools. Sizer was a consultant oncologist at Colchester Hospital who stood as a single-issue candidate to get health and cancer care onto the agenda of the political parties. He was Joint Clinical Director of the Essex Cancer Network from 2006 until 2008 and is an honorary research professor at the University of Essex.


Campaign

The Conservatives were mocked by UKIP supporters for sending out a leaflet, called "The Big Clacton Survey" asking voters to prioritise issues including "local train and tube services", despite the fact that the nearest tube (ie London Underground) station to Clacton is over away. UKIP claimed to have recruited 150 local Conservative members following Carswell's defection. The journalist and former Conservative MP, Matthew Parris, created a controversy by writing in '' The Times'' that the Conservatives should be "careless" of Clacton voters’ opinions as "Clacton-on-Sea is going nowhere", remarks which were disowned by local Conservatives and denounced by Carswell as "reflective of what so many in the upper echelons of the Tory party really think" and were cited by two local Conservative councillors as a reason for defecting to UKIP. An important component of the UKIP campaign was a public meeting of 700 people at the
Clacton Coastal Academy Clacton Coastal Academy is a coeducational high school serving the western part of Clacton-on-Sea. The school has a population of about 1377 students with a maximum limit of 1550 students. Formerly known as "Colbayns", the site was officially r ...
with Douglas Carswell and UKIP leader Nigel Farage which was billed as the "biggest public meeting in Clacton in living memory". Both the Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
and the Labour leader Ed Miliband visited the constituency to help their respective party campaigns. Ten days before the election, the artist Banksy painted a mural on a wall in Clacton which showed five grey pigeons holding three placards. They held the words "go back to Africa" "migrants not welcome", and "keep off our worms". They were directed towards a more colourful migratory swallow perched further along the same wire. The mural was removed by Tendring District Council who had received a complaint that "offensive and racist remarks" had appeared on a wall. Two days before the election, Boris Johnson was unable to remember the name of the Conservative candidate in the by-election during an interview with
Nick Ferrari Nicolo Ferrari (born 31 January 1959) is a British host, television presenter and broadcast journalist. He is best known as the host of the weekday breakfast show on the London-based radio station LBC, with 1.5 million weekly listeners. He al ...
, saying "he's a superb man. Stirling? Girling? Something like that".


Polling


Results and analysis

The election produced a number of statistical records, partly because of the unusual situation in which an incumbent MP with a large majority for one party has resigned and then stood for re-election on behalf of a new party for which support was in any case on a strongly rising trend. The 59.7% increase in the percentage vote achieved by UKIP since the previous general election (when they did not field a candidate) is the greatest ever in British parliamentary elections, although the percentage swing remains 0.1% less than the record 44.2% swing to the Liberal Party at the
1983 Bermondsey by-election A by-election was held in the Bermondsey constituency in South London, on 24 February 1983, following the resignation of Labour MP Bob Mellish. Peter Tatchell stood as the candidate for the Labour Party, and Simon Hughes stood for the Liberal P ...
. The 28.4% reduction in Conservative votes is the 16th worst for any party since the Second World War, while the 1.4% of the vote achieved by the Liberal Democrats was, at the time, the third smallest vote ever obtained by a major party, and the worst since World War II. Since then, however, the Liberal Democrats received an even smaller proportion of the vote at the
Rochester and Strood by-election A by-election was held on 20 November 2014 for the UK parliamentary constituency of Rochester and Strood in Kent, England. The sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Mark Reckless called it on joining the UK Independence Party (UKIP), from the Conse ...
later in 2014.


Aftermath

In November 2014,
Mark Reckless Mark John Reckless (born 6 December 1970) is a British politician who served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for South Wales East from 2016 until 2021, having previously served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochester and Strood from 2010 to ...
won the Rochester and Strood by-election, giving UKIP a second MP. At the 2015 general election, Carswell retained his seat, becoming UKIP's only MP, though the party received 13% of the vote nationally (Reckless lost his seat to the Conservatives). Giles Watling was the Conservative candidate again, and came second in the constituency, 3,347 votes behind Carswell. The Conservative Party won an overall majority in the general election. In their manifesto, they had promised to hold a referendum on British membership of the European Union, which was held on 23 June 2016. The UK voted to leave the EU, with 52% of votes cast in favour of leaving. In March 2017, Carswell left UKIP and became an independent MP. He did not stand in the 2017 general election, instead supporting the Conservative candidate in Clacton. In the general election, Watling won the seat for the Conservatives, with a large majority over the second-place Labour candidate (the UKIP candidate came third, receiving 8% of the vote). At the 2019 general election, Watling increased his majority further, receiving almost three-quarters of the vote.


See also

*
2014 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom The 2014 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2014 European Parliament election, held on Thursday 22 May 2014, coinciding with the 2014 local elections in England and Northern Ireland. In total, 73 Members of ...
*
List of United Kingdom by-elections (2010–present) This is a list of parliamentary by-elections in the United Kingdom since 2010, with the names of the incumbent and victor and their respective parties. Where seats changed political party at the election, the result is highlighted: blue for a Co ...
*
Opinion polling for the 2015 United Kingdom general election In the run up to the general election on 7 May 2015, various organisations carried out opinion polling to gauge voting intention. Results of such polls are displayed in this article. Most of the polling companies listed are members of the Brit ...
* Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies (2010–2015)


References

{{Brexit topics, state=collapsed
Clacton by-election The 2014 by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Clacton in Essex, England, took place on 9 October 2014. The by-election was triggered by the Conservative MP for Clacton, Douglas Carswell, defecting to the UK Independence Party (UK ...
Clacton by-election The 2014 by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Clacton in Essex, England, took place on 9 October 2014. The by-election was triggered by the Conservative MP for Clacton, Douglas Carswell, defecting to the UK Independence Party (UK ...
Clacton by-election The 2014 by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Clacton in Essex, England, took place on 9 October 2014. The by-election was triggered by the Conservative MP for Clacton, Douglas Carswell, defecting to the UK Independence Party (UK ...
By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Essex constituencies Tendring 2010s in Essex UK Independence Party