Is Douglas Carswell MP an honourable man or just plain stupid?
Douglas Carswell was first elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament in 2005. This week, the Member for Clacton defected to the United Kingdom Independence Party. In doing so, he showed himself to be both be duplicitous and honourable simultaneously and here we analyse the two sides of this Eurosceptic politician.
43-year old Carswell has been honest in where he stands on Europe since he first entered politics and is is an MP who bravely defied convention when he took on the then Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin after he failed to bring greater transparency to the chamber. Carswell supported Zac Goldsmith in his campaign for a genuine Recall Bill and today, though he was not required to, he voluntarily triggered a by-election after he switched political parties.
For this, we commend Carswell but the former Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans MP is right to have pointed out that his defection will achieve little. UKIP is a party that has not a single MP in Westminster currently whilst even the Green Party have one. It is a party run by a tub thumping, beer swilling, Volvo driver named Nigel Farage who falsely claims his ‘People’s Army’ stands for the “aspirational workers of this country”.
Caravan loving Farage is not the man for Britain as we believe UKIP to be a flash-in-the-pan protest party and even more curiously its members don’t even want Douglas Carswell. In light of yesterday’s news, the existing UKIP candidate for Clacton, Roger Lord, 57, told BuzzFeed that he has “no intention of stepping down”. Lord added:
“As far I’m concerned I’m carrying on… If Mr Carswell wants to join us then he can get in the queue and hand out leaflets with the rest of us…. Until they fire me, shoot me, or blow me out of the party for being a rebel, then I’m here”.
“I think it’s rather arrogant of any MP to act like this. We’ve proved we can succeed and take on the establishment. But now the establishment is wanting to join us. Why should we put up with people carpet bagging from somewhere else?”
“I joined UKIP in 1997, delivering leaflets, calling public meetings where five people turned up on a cold, wet night. I think I’ve got a lot more experience of life than he has. Just because he’s joined doesn’t mean he’s got an automatic ticket. It’s an insult to the electors for politicians to think their votes can be traded”.
Anne Poonian, the secretary of UKIP’s Clacton constituency association, added:
“There will be some Ukippers who think [Carswell’s] a Conservative in UKIP clothing… He isn’t necessarily our man”.
Douglas Carswell survived the scandal of his having bought a £655 “love seat” using parliamentary expenses in 2009 but he may now have just dug his political grave. One has to ask if he and his new UKIP comrades will still be sitting comfortably by the time of the 2015 general election.
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