Douglas Carswell MP defects to UKIP

Conservative MP Douglas Carswell has defected to UKIP this morning and is resigning his seat to trigger a by-election.

The Clacton seat that Carswell represents until he appointed a Crown officer (the legal loophole used to resign as an MP as it's not actually possible to resign) was created by splitting the Harwich constituency in 2010. He won the seat in the 2010 general election by a whopping majority with 53% of the vote.

The by-election that Carswell will be contesting as the UKIP candidate will be a three way battle between Labour, UKIP and the Conservatives. This is probably the best chance UKIP has of winning a Westminster election before the general election next year. Carswell is well liked as an MP and his eurosceptic and libertarian credentials are off the scale following his defection.

There's no doubt about it, this is a massive boost for the people's army and a devastating blow for David Cameron.