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Gifts from The Morning Star
Ukip gains first MP
Tory defector Douglas Carswell sails to victory in Clapton by-election

THE xenophobic UK Independence Party secured its first ever parliamentary seat yesterday following a by-election in Clacton.

The by-election was triggered after sitting Tory MP Douglas Carswell defected to Ukip and resigned from his seat in August.

Mr Carswell comfortably topped the poll with 21,113 votes — a majority of 12,404.

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