Douglas Carswell resigns from UKIP

Douglas Carswell has resigned from UKIP and will sit as an independent MP.

In a statement he said that the split is "amicable".

Carswell was never a traditional UKIPper, rather a fellow traveller who aligned himself with UKIP to achieve a common goal. He hoped a parliamentary party would steer the party down a more professional, less reactive path and whilst he had some success influencing behaviours at the top, some of the grassroots membership have been reluctant to see UKIP professionalise.

Whether Carswell should have stayed in UKIP or left the party as he has done, his relatively short time in the party has been marred by pretty embarrassing behaviour from people who should know better.

Many in UKIP are calling for Carswell to resign as he did when he defected from the Tories but he says that he won't be doing so as he isn't crossing the floor.

Diane James resignation, the NEC and the heart of UKIP

Diane James has resigned from UKIP, citing an "increasingly difficult" relationship with the party and lack of support from the NEC during her brief stint as leader.

There have been a few senior resignations or defections since the referendum which, whilst disappointing, isn't particularly concerning. What we're seeing is the Tories in UKIP clothing and protest members going back to their old political lives and those who are left behind are the real UKIPpers.

What is of concern is Diane's comments about the NEC. It's a common criticism amongst those that are leaving the party under a cloud that the NEC are making irrational decisions and are impossible to deal with. The NEC can't keep lurching from one disaster to the next and not take responsibility. We need to not only bring in fresh blood in the NEC elections that close this week but look at how the NEC needs to change to make it work better for the party and its members.

Leadership contender, Suzanne Evans, has suggested that Diane Evans should resign along with Steven Woolfe, Amjid Bashir and Janice Atkinson as UKIP was elected not them as individuals and she's right. UKIP won 24 seats in the EU elections and those seats should be filled by UKIP MEPs. That's what people voted for and that's what they should get.

There will probably be more people walking away from UKIP in the coming months who came along for the ride but were never really UKIPpers at heart. UKIP is its grassroots members and supporters - those of us who stand in council elections, hang around on street corners giving out leaflets, put up posters and work for the communities we live in - and while we're still doing our bit on the ground the party will survive and thrive despite the tantrums, politicking and manoeuvring at the top.

ConservativeHome founder Tim Montgomerie resigns from Conservative Party

The founder of ConservativeHome and lifelong member of the Conservative Party, Tim Montgomerie, has resigned from the party with a scathing attack on David Cameron.

Cameron's unswerving support for the EU along with out of control immigration and soaring national debt is the straw that broke the camel's back and prompted Montgomerie to cancel his membership of 28 years.

It remains the greatest source of social misery on the continent — requiring intense austerity in countries such as Greece and causing terrible youth unemployment across southern Europe from which millions will suffer lifelong scars.

Montgomerie isn't planning on joining another party just yet but he's talking the talk and walking the walk of a UKIPper at the moment. Who knows what will happen in the near future?

SNP MP resigns over investigation into business deals with struck off solicitor

Frontbench SNP MP, Michelle Thomson, has resigned the SNP whip after the police launched an investigation into her involvement with a struck off solicitor.

Solicitor Christopher Hales was struck off following a tribunal hearing last year and the Law Society referred the case to the Crown Office formally this year having informally notified them in 2014. He and Michelle Thomson did business together through her property company.

She has resigned as the SNP's business spokesman and will sit as an independent MP until the conclusion of the investigation. Questions are being asked about whether the investigation came to light whilst the SNP were vetting her as a candidate and was covered up.

Mass resignation of Labour councillors in Redcar & Cleveland

The Labour Party in Redcar & Cleveland has all but collapsed after after its leader and half the council's Labour cabinet resigned en masse.

The councillors who have resigned are:

• Cllr George Dunning, leader of the council
• Cllr Sheelagh Clarke, deputy leader of the council
• Cllr Carole Simms, mayor of Redcar & Cleveland
• Cllr Steven Goldswain, cabinet member
• Cllr Mark Hannon, cabinet member
• Cllr Olwyn Peters, cabinet member
• Cllr Norman Pickthall, cabinet member and chair of Personnel & General Purposes committee
• Cllr Vic Jeffries, vice chair of the Health & Safety Advisory Group
• Cllr Brian Biggs, chair of Cleveland Fire Authority
• Cllr Wendy Wall, chair of Corporate Parenting Board and vice chair of Peoples Services & Improvement committee

The resignations leave Labour in a very precarious position with just 19 councillors out of a total of 49. If all 10 join the 11-strong Independent group, the independents will be the largest group on the council and in a position to take control of the council. Labour would have to team up with the 11 Lib Dems to hang on to power.

Breaking: Kerry Smith resigns

The BBC are reporting that Kerry Smith has resigned as PPC for Basildon South so that UKIP can win the seat in May.

York City Labour lose two more councillors

Two more Labour councillors on York City Council have resigned from the party on Thursday, making Labour's grip on the city even more tenuous.

In September, Cllr Helen Douglas defected from Labour to the Conservatives and lost the Labour group their majority. Cllrs Ken King and David Scott have now both resigned over the local Labour leadership and attempts to punish them for voting to cut councillors' expenses. There are now 21 Labour councillors on York City Council out of a total of 47.

Lib Dem Councillor resigns over £1,200 charity theft

Lib Dem Cllr Peter Brock has announced his resignation from Yeovil Town Council after being convicted of stealing £1,200 from the local branch of the Royal British Legion.

Brock, who has been suspended by the local Lib Dem group, said his was ashamed and embarrassed by his actions.

There are no front page stories about this in the national press or 24 hour rolling coverage by the news channels like there is when a UKIP councillor is involved but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

Mike Nattrass resigns from UKIP

West Midlands MEP, Mike Nattrass, has resigned from UKIP after failing to get reselected for next year's EU elections.

In an email to party chairman, Steve Crowther, he describes UKIP as totalitarian and compares Nigel Farage to Robert Mugabe.  He also repeats his previous claim that party rules have been broken despite the things he says are against the rules being part of the changes to the party constitution that were approved by the membership some time ago.

It's a shame Mike has chosen to resign from the party for failing the MEP selection process rather than going into the selection process for a Westminster seat which he was almost certain to have been successful in but he's been in self destruct mode since he found out he was unsuccessful.

Roger Helmer to resign as Tory MEP

Tory MEP, Roger Helmer, has announced his resignation as an MEP with effect from the end of the year saying that he disagrees with 90% of Tory policies.

Sadly he isn't defecting to UKIP which would be the obvious thing for him to do as a Better Off Out signatory but is resigning as an MEP, saying that he was elected as a Conservative MEP and resigning is the "decent, honourable" thing to do.  Perhaps he could explain how that works to DCB?

Helmer said that he hopes to remain a member of the Tories but not everyone is convinced.  Whether he joins UKIP or not remains to be seen but I would pay good money to be a fly on the wall of Camoron's office right now.  A defection yesterday, a resignation today and all because he refuses to give us a referendum on our membership of the EU.  What a great leader he is.

Paul Nuttall resigns as party chairman

Paul Nuttall, UKIP's party chairman, has resigned from the post with effect from the election of the new party leader.

Paul was elected as an MEP for the North West of England euroregion and wants to concentrate on representing his constituents. UKIP MEPs are busier than most MEPs - not only are they working hard to try and make themselves and their colleageus redundant, but they also take their "constituency" duties seriously and spend an inordinate amount of time looking after the people that elected them.

Mr Nuttall said: “The most important thing in UKIP is the relationship between the leader and the chairman, and Nigel and I have had the best relationship you can imagine. We’ve been the most successful team the party has had.

“When a new leader comes in, they have the power to select the new chairman, and so I’ve decided to stand down to give them that chance.

“It gives me the chance to concentrate on fighting for the Bootle seat.”

Bloggers4UKIP : Speaking of which, the ballot papers have been sent out for the leadership election. If you haven't received yours in the next few days, be sure to get in touch with UKIP HQ.

Dan Hannan resigns from Tory EU front bench

Daniel Hannan, last of the eurosceptic Tory MEPs, has resigned from the front bench following David Camoron's pathetic betrayal of his party and the electorate of the promised Lisbon Treaty referendum.

He says:

I want open primaries, popular initiative procedures, elected sheriffs, self-financing councils, an end to quangos, recall mechanisms and, yes, referendums – lots and lots of referendums

And you think you're going to get that with the Conservatives Danny boy? Not a chance. But you know that don't you?

Dan Hannan is very good at saying what he thinks people want to hear. I suspect he's after a Boris-style "promotion" to a cushy job which is what tends to happen to members that are too popular to sack but persistently off message.

Breaking News: Farage stepping down as leader

According to the BBC and confirmed on the UKIP website, Nigel Farage is stepping down as leader of UKIP to concentrate on his election campaign against the Speaker, John Berscow.

Farage already has the backing of many Tories who would rather see a UKIP MP in Buckingham rather than Berscow and stands a real chance of unseating Berscow as Tories will be able to publically support and campaign on behalf of Farage without breaking the strict rules on Tory Party members supporting a candidate that isn't a Tory because the Speaker doesn't stand as a member of a party.

UKIP without Farage at the helm will be different, that's for sure. It will be a challenge to find someone as media-friendly and confident a speaker as Farage to front the party but UKIP is full of good people and I'm confident that we can find someone to lead us into a historic general election next year from which UKIP will emerge as a serious Westminster power.

Rather than write a leadership obituary (I'll leave that to the newspapers) we will instead kick off the speculation on who will replace Farage as leader. Here is my list of the top five contenders, in no particular order:

David Campbell-Bannerman
Paul Nuttall
Tim Aker
John Arnott
Chris Gill

Nobody has declared an interest yet so I could be way off the mark but I reckon it'll be one of the above.