The anti-immigration, anti-Europe UK Independence Party (UKIP) won a second seat in parliament by a large margin, signaling a possible problem for Prime Minister David Cameron and the Tory party just six months out from the next general election.

Rochester & Strood MP Mark Reckless resigned from the Conservative Party, triggering the by-election.  He ran for his seat under the UKIP banner, getting a, overwhelming 42 percent of the vote.  The candidate who picked up the Conservative mantle polled 14.4 percent of the vote, followed by Labour with 11.7 percent.  The Greens came in fourth, and the junior coalition partner Lib-Dem candidate got his mother’s vote and that’s about it. 

The constituency is in southeast England, not far from Clacton – where UKIP picked up its first seat last month in a by-election triggered under very similar circumstance, the defection of another Tory, Douglas Carswell.  The party’s chief whip Michael Gove said he’s certain there will be no more defections to UKIP.

The by-election campaign was marked with bitter battles over immigration.  Reckless came under criticism for suggesting that some immigrants could be asked to leave the country in the event of the UK leaving the European Union.  He later backtracked, and after being declared winner he said, “They’re now here as part of our country, and they will always be welcome.”