ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog

UKIP will actively campaign for the election of five Conservative candidates and one Labour candidate

Launching their manifesto this morning, UKIP leader Lord Pearson of Rannoch has announced that not only is his party making a conscious decision not to stand in a handful of seats held by what he defined as "committed eurosceptics" in the last Parliament, but that UKIP will "actively campaign" for them.

One Labour MP seeking re-election will get this help:

• David Drew - Stroud

And sixfive Conservative candidates will be given the same treatment, with Lord Pearson identifying the following at his press conference (I will seek the identity of the others) along with two others:

• Dougla Carswell - Clacton
• Philip Davies - Shipley
• Philip Hollobone - Kettering
• Janice Small - Batley and Spen
• Alex Story - Wakefield

He added that the Independent MP for Castle Point, Bob Spink (originally elected as a Conservative), would also get UKIP's endorsement (Pearson wrongly included Spink on his list as a Conservative).

Lord Pearson said that none had asked for UKIP's help - although I suggested in February that David Drew's attendance at a UKIP dinner meant that an electoral pact was on the cards.

7.15pm update:

David Campbell-Bannerman MEP, UKIP 's deputy leader, has just been interviewed by Sky News' Adam Boulton and seemed somewhat confused about his party's position in Great Grimsby, where Austin Mitchell has been Labour MP since 1977. Boulton suggested that Mitchell was a eurosceptic whom UKIP should not oppose, to which Campbell-Bannerman replied that Mitchell was indeed "a good man" whom UKIP would not have opposed, but that sadly Mitchell was standing down at the election.

FACT: Austin Mitchell is standing for re-election.

Are UKIP's leader and deputy leader singing from the same hymnsheet?

Jonathan Isaby

Labour MP's secret speech at local UKIP dinner sparks rumours of electoral pact

Given that he will have to defend his majority of less than 1,000 within the next few weeks, you might have thought that the Labour MP for Stroud since 1997, David Drew (pictured), would have been pounding the streets of his constituency last Friday night.

But no - I can reveal that he was at a fundraising dinner for a rival political party, and it would appear that he was there without the knowledge of his own local Labour Party.

I call his constituency office and ask the person answering the phone if she can confirm that Mr Drew was attending the fundraising dinner for the Gloucestershire branch of UKIP last week and was told:

"He wasn't; I am fairly sure he was at the Christian Socialist Movement conference."

On being told that I had it on good authority that he was at the UKIP dinner, his office said they would have to get back to me - and I am still waiting for a reply.

The guest of honour at the dinner was the ex-leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage, who has since confirmed to me that Drew not only attended the function, but also gave a spontaneous speech, which was afforded a standing ovation.

"We cheered him to the rafters... I think he's toughened up his position on the EU after the Lisbon Treaty went through without a referendum."

Rumours are now circulating that Drew is seeking an electoral pact which would see UKIP not standing a candidate in Stroud at the general election - a suggestion which Farage seems to imply is a possibility by the tone of his response:

"I'm not running the party any more, and in any case that's a matter for the local party to decide... but I think they're a sensible bunch."

It remains to be seen how dim a view the Labour Party machine takes of his public courting of UKIP, but Neil Carmichael, who will fight Stroud for the third successive election for the Conservatives, has a simple message for the local electorate:

"The only way to ensure Britain's interests are defended in Europe is to vote Conservative."

Jonathan Isaby

Labour is reportedly aiming to stop Green voters from switching to the Conservatives

One of the many things David Cameron has done during his four years as Tory leader has been to make the party greener and make it more environmentally aware. It is probably best illustrated by the decision to stand for Parliament of former Ecologist editor Zac Goldsmith, who was co-chairman of the party's Quality of Life policy group (not all of whose recommendations were accepted as policy, of course).

And according to today's Independent on Sunday, it would seem that Labour are worried that the Conservatives are now well placed to win the votes of former Green Party backers.

The paper reports that Labour is intending to try and highlight divisions with Conservative Party over climate change in the top Tory target seats where the Green Party won more than 2% of the vote at the last election - in the hope of stopping Green supporters from switching to back the Conservatives and helping to deliver a Tory majority in the Commons.

Labour is apparently planning to use this tactic in the following list of constituencies, according to the Independent, which only covers the seats the Conservatives need to gain to win a majority of one (hence certain seats with a strong Green presence such as Brighton Pavilion and Norwich South are not included):

• Battersea (Lab)
• Birmingham Edgbaston (Lab)
• Bradford West (Lab)
• Brentford & Isleworth (Lab)
• Brighton Kemptown (Lab) 
• Calder Valley (Lab)
• Carshalton & Wallington (LD)
• Cheltenham (LD)
• Colne Valley (Lab)
• Croydon Central (Con held, but notionally Lab under new boundaries)
• Devon North (LD)
• Edinburgh South (Lab) 
• Finchley & Golders Green (Lab) 
• Hastings & Rye (Lab)
• Hereford & South Herefordshire (LD)
• Hove (Lab)
• Leeds North West (LD)
• Milton Keynes North (Con held, but notionally Lab under new boundaries)
• Milton Keynes South (Lab)
• Ochil & South Perthshire (Lab) 
• Oxford West & Abingdon (LD)
• Poplar & Limehouse (Lab)
• Reading West (Lab)
• Richmond Park (LD) 
• Stirling (Lab)
• Stroud (Lab)
• Swindon South (Lab)
• Tooting (Lab)
• Watford (Lab)
• Waveney (Lab)
• Worcester (Lab)

If Labour are seriously intending using their limited campaign budget to try and stop Green sympathisers from voting for Zac Goldsmith in Richmond Park, they have rather more resources at their disposal than I imagined...

Jonathan Isaby 

Neil Carmichael reselected

Neil Carmichael was last night voted to again be the parliamentary candidate for Stroud. Neil, who wasn't on the priority list, is a former farmer and academic who fought the seat last time, coming just 350 votes behind Labour MP David Drew.

Deputy Editor