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Tory parliamentary candidate Mike Whitehead defects to Ukip
Just breaking... Conservative candidate for Hull West and Hessle.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/06/conservative-parliamentary-candidate-defect-ukip-mike-whitehead?CMP=share_btn_tw
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/06/conservative-parliamentary-candidate-defect-ukip-mike-whitehead?CMP=share_btn_tw
Conservative parliamentary candidate Mike Whitehead defects to Ukip
Nigel Farage calls the switch by the Hull West and Hessle candidate, Mike Whitehead, ‘another hammer blow to Tory pretensions in the north of England’
The Conservative parliamentary candidate for Hull West and Hessle has defected to Ukip, a move the party leader, Nigel Farage, has called “another hammer blow to Tory pretensions in the north of England”.
Mike Whitehead, who is standing in the Yorkshire constituency against former home secretary Alan Johnson, is a councillor on East Riding council.
Hull West and Hessle is safe Labour territory – Johnson is defending a 5,700 majority from the 2010 general election when the Conservatives finished third.
Whitehead said he was “disgusted” with the behaviour of the ruling Tory group in East Yorkshire and the “wilful refusal” of the Conservative party to intervene at a national level. He insisted the “secretive” council needed to be “opened up” and be made more transparent.
Responding to the news, Farage said: “I am delighted to be welcoming Mike to the party at this exciting time.
“His move to Ukip just underlines that today the real party of opposition to Labour in the north is Ukip. It is another hammer blow to Tory pretensions in the north of England”.
Whitehead said he had been increasingly worried about the behaviour of the controlling group of Tories since 2011, when seven Conservative councillors from Haltemprice and Howden resigned, citing bullying and intimidation.
He added: “In my opinion, the behaviour of the ruling group has only gotten worse since then. Now, that same group have managed to gain control of the local party structures by ensuring they are responsible for the organisation of the local election campaign.
“However, the Conservative party at national level has declined to get involved in what it sees as a remote internal squabble out in the shires. The total power of single party control without effective opposition is never a good situation as we have seen from recent events elsewhere in Yorkshire.
“I could not in good conscience continue supporting the local Conservative party when they are obsessed with going down the same road.”
As a member of Ukip he would be better able to speak up for residents and represent their views on the council, he added.
He went on: “I also hope that with the election of other Ukip councillors, I can help open this secretive council up and make it more transparent and work better for the residents rather than to the benefit of the few.”
He said he wanted to ensure the local authority works more closely with other agencies including Hull city council and Humberside police.
“It is important that we remove petty fiefdoms and ensure this region is not left behind when greater resources are devolved by the next Government,” he said.
Ukip Yorkshire and Humber MEP Mike Hookem said: “Mike has shown himself to be a man of principle in standing up for what he believes in and I am looking forward to working with him in the near future.”
Fellow Ukip MEP Jane Collins said: “Both Mike and his colleague Mick Burchill, who defected earlier this week will be standing for Ukip in the local elections. I think they will both be a great addition to the Ukip team in this area and I am also looking forward to working with them closely.”
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Comments
https://twitter.com/mattholehouse/status/584998100743430144/photo/1
Nice try.
It still shows that he maybe had plans to leave the Conservative Party.
Not what he claims. Of course the Tories would try to save face.
Cameron and Osborne both fuel suspicion that their priority is to cut income tax for Millionaires (again).
Farage tells the media that 6 Tories are ready to jump ship to UKIP.
Monday:
A Tory jumps ship to UKIP.
What will happen on Monday afternoon? Maybe Cameron will repeat his "obviously ridiculous" £3k per family attack.
Huh?
Surely he wouldn't do that.
Would he?
Very much like UKIP did when Amjad Bashir defected to the Tories, I'm sure you will agree.
And that 5700 in 2010 was over the Lib Dems who between 2001 and 2010 increased their share from 15% and third place to 24% and second place.
The Tory share in that constituency remained unchanged throughout...firmly stuck on 20% which put them second in 2001 but only third in 2010...so any "return to Labour" will be from the Lib Dems.
Yet Cameron and co try to make voters believe they won't consider going into a coalition with UKIP, even though basically they are on the same side of the coin.
It's probably the EU issue. Tories tradionally (or for the last 25 or so years) have been more eurosceptic than any of the other parties. David Cameron's whole raison d'etre since taking over in 2005 has been to try and steer away from this by sticking more to centre ground.