I read today that Christopher Gill, the former Conservative MP for Ludlow and self-styled "whips' nightmare", is to contest his old seat for UKIP at the general election. Now 73, he was MP for the constituency between 1987 and 2001, when he retired from the Commons, and he joined UKIP in 2006.
Philip Dunne has been Conservative MP for the seat since the 2005 general election, when he regained Ludlow from the Lib Dems, who held it between 2001 and 2005. When I asked for his reaction to the intervention of his predecessor-but-one, he told me:
"Christopher told me last December he was looking for a candidate to stand for UKIP. He clearly could not find one, so has put himself forward.
"I believe the electorate in the Ludlow constituency are as keen for a change in government as the rest of the country. They know the only way to deliver this change is to vote Conservative. A vote for any of the minor parties, including UKIP, the BNP, Lib Dems or Greens will help keep Gordon Brown as Prime Minister. It was his Labour government, supported by the Liberal Democrats, which denied the British people a referendum over the Lisbon Treaty before it was adopted into law throughout the EU.
"I look forward to getting on with the election campaign to bring about the change Britain needs."
I echo his sentiments entirely. Voting for anyone but the Conservative candidate here (or in any seat across the country for that matter) risks allowing Gordon Brown to cling on to power - and no Conservative or serious eurosceptic should be doing anything come polling day which risks allowing that to happen.
Jonathan Isaby
