Douglas Carswell resigns as MP

Douglas Carswell has said he will not stand as a candidate in the forthcoming General Election but will be backing the Conservative candidate.

In a message to his constituents on his website, the former Ukip MP said it was "job done" and it was "time to move on to other things."

Mr Carswell, 45, dramatically defected from the Conservatives in 2014 but quit Ukip to become an independent MP last month after spectacularly falling out with then leader Nigel Farage.

Former Ukip donor Arron Banks, who bankrolled the Leave.EU campaign in last year's Brexit referendum, has said he will challenge former Ukip MP Douglas Carswell in Clacton.

Mr Banks said he believed Mr Carswell had stood down because "he was scared of losing".

In a message on Twitter, the eurosceptic millionaire said: "The Clacton swamp has been drained without a shot fired! Now for the Clacton plan."

Douglas Carswell (r) sits alongside Nigel Farage during a Ukip conference in 2014. Credit: PA

Mr Carswell was first elected Conservative MP for Harwich in 2005 and represented Clacton in Parliament since 2010.

He has a solid 12,000 majority as a Conservative MP in the 2010 election, and held the seat by almost 3,500 votes for Ukip in 2015.

Mr Carswell wrote on his website: "I have decided that I will not now be seeking re-election.

"I intend to vote Conservative ‪on June 8th and will be offering my full support to whoever the Clacton Constituency Conservatives select as their candidate.

"As I promised in my maiden speech, I have done everything possible to ensure we got, and won, a referendum to leave the European Union - even changing parties and triggering a by election to help nudge things along.

Douglas Carswell defected from the Tories to Ukip.

"It is sometimes said that all political careers end in failure. It doesn't feel like that to me today. I have stood for Parliament five times, won four times, and helped win the referendum last June. Job done. I'm delighted.

"Having been an MP for about half my adult life, I believe that it is time for me to move on to other things. I look forward to being able to read newspapers without appearing in them."