The leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party has welcomed its first MP as “articulate, quite controversial and a bit of a character”.
Bob Spink, the MP for Castle Point in Essex, defected from the Conservatives to join UKIP this week.
Party leader Nigel Farage, a Euro-MP from Downe, near Bromley, said he hoped Mr Spink would give the party more credibility on domestic issues such as health and education.
He said: “He has joined us because he became increasingly hacked off with the Conservative Party on a variety of issues, from the completely dishonest position it has taken on the European constitution to its policies on immigration – the whole gamut.”
Mr Farage said that Mr Spink was one of the most hardworking MPs in Westminster and said he would help UKIP to be viewed as a “broad-based party”.
He said the party was standing 500 candidates in the forthcoming local elections across the UK in what he described as a “moderate sized effort”, but was more focused on the next European and general elections.
Mr Farage added that he had not yet decided if he will stand as a parliamentary candidate in the next general election, but acknowledged it was “a situation I’ve got to answer pretty soon”.
POSTED: 22/04/2008 16:58:18
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