Former MP claims Clacton was the 'deliverer of Brexit'
Boris Johnson. Gisela Stuart and Douglas Carswell address the people of Stafford in Market Square during the Vote Leave campaign - Credit: Getty Images
A former MP has claimed that the Essex town of Clacton was responsible for delivering Brexit.
Douglas Carswell, who defected from the Tories to UKIP in 2014 before calling a by-election, claims that his win in that vote caused David Cameron to hold the EU referendum shortly after.
The Vote Leave politician, recently appointed to a Brexit trade board by Liz Truss, claimed that "Clacton changed the course of country's history".
He told the Clacton Gazette: “There will be a lot of individuals and politicians wanting to be seen as the deliverers of Brexit, but it was Clacton that made this happen.
MORE: Why is the Express obsessed with Douglas Carswell?
“The Gazette ran a front page on the morning of the by-election in 2014 highlighting the historic significance of the election - and its analysis was right.
“For almost 50 years the political establishment of this country determined we should belong to this European secret state.
“But at that by-election, Clacton folk forced politicians to realise that if they wanted to remain in office they would have to give us the referendum.”
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Despite the claim, an attempt by Nigel Farage to deliver a one-man show in the town saw the former UKIP leader outsold by an Elvis tribute act.
As of the day before the gig, he'd sold just 179 of the 802 available tickets.https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news/nigel-farage-sydney-tour-date-cancelled-31680
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