There’s no point trying to beat Ukip defector Carswell, says top Tory
A SENIOR Tory has said the party should not even try to contest the seat where Ukip defector Douglas Carswell is standing next month. Nigel Evans, the former deputy speaker, yesterday urged his party to ‘sit out’ the by-election in Clacton where the former Conservative MP, who stood down last week, will now run for Ukip.
It comes as up to three leading Tory Eurosceptics are reported to have started private talks about ‘non-aggression pacts’ in which Ukip would not run against them.
The by-election, which a poll this weekend suggests Mr Carswell is on course to win by a landslide, presents a severe dilemma for the Conservatives.
Ploughing resources into keeping the seat would be expensive – the last by-election, in Newark, cost £100,000 – and some fear it would divert resources from other key seats to what could be a high-profile failure.
Mr Evans, who described himself as ‘sort of’ a friend of Mr Carswell, told Sky News: ‘A part of me says we should sit this one out, it’s a total distraction.’ He added: ‘I spent the day yesterday with 250 young Tories who feel desperately let down by Carswell. They do believe the only way we’re going to make headway is by having a referendum on Europe.
‘How are we going to do that? With the Tories and David Cameron winning in 2015. It really makes no sense to me at all.’
But Michael Fabricant, a former Tory chairman who used to organise by-election campaigning, said it was his party’s ‘duty’ to fight every by-election seriously.
He proposed deals between the Conservatives and Ukip two years ago, but said the idea was no longer viable as many of Ukip’s policies, such as compulsory 11+ exams and cuts to the NHS budget, ‘ contradicted’ Conservative policies.
He said: ‘We can’t say we are not going to fight it. We have to fight every by- election seriously, we fought a by- election seriously in Glasgow where we had no chance of winning. Conservative voters in Clacton will expect a serious campaign and we cannot disenfranchise them.’
It was claimed yesterday that MPs who want to cut ties with Brussels but are not prepared to join Ukip will defy David Cameron by forming their own local ‘nonaggression pacts’ with the party.
This could involve stripping their campaign literature of Tory logos and using quotes from Mr Farage on pamphlets — effectively running as joint candidates, the Sunday Times said. A Ukip source did not know of any private talks, but did not rule it out.
‘I can see what’s in it for the Tory MPs,’ the source said. ‘But not what’s in it for us.
‘We have grown enormously in the past four years, we have a much broader policy agenda and a lot of our supporters are not Tories or former Tories.
‘It wouldn’t be centrally imposed, but if the local association and their Tory MP made an agreement, then perhaps.’
In 2010 Ukip did not stand against four Tory Eurosceptics, but it plans to contest every seat at next year’s election. Mr Carswell shocked Westminster with his announcement last week, but it has not yet triggered any further defections.
Former defence minister Sir Nicholas Soames attacked the move, saying: ‘What Douglas Carswell has done is sheer madness. It is rank disloyalty to a party that gave him a place in Parliament.
‘Douglas is a very unusual MP and it has been clear for some time where his true political sympathies lie.’
Comment – Page 14
‘Desperately
let down’