UKIP hoping to get first seat with resignation/defection of MP Douglas Carswell..

Come, I will conceal nothing from you: I don’t follow British politics all that much.  But this sounds pretty significant:

Tory Douglas Carswell has defected to UKIP and quit as MP for Clacton, saying he will contest the subsequent by-election for Nigel Farage’s party.

If he wins the support of voters he will be the first elected UK Independence Party MP in the Commons.

More here and here. Typically, when British MPs switch parties they apparently do it without having by-elections, which apparently drives British voters nuts. As it should. Douglas Carswell is either very confident that he can win, or he’s acting on principle. Or, I suppose, both.