A Tory MP allegedly being “heavily targeted” by Ukip insisted yesterday that he was not about to jump ship.
Chris Kelly, MP for Dudley South, told The Standard: “Following recent speculation, I want to be absolutely clear I will not be defecting to Ukip.
“I have always been a committed Conservative and will be doing everything I can over the next eight months to ensure a Conservative majority government in May 2015.”
He said that only a Tory government would deliver a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.
Senior Tories had become concerned over Kelly’s intentions after apparently struggling to contact him just days before David Cameron’s keynote speech to the party’s annual rally in Birmingham tomorrow.
“They (Ukip) are definitely trying to get him,” a senior Conservative insider claimed. “He’s gone a bit quiet.” But Kelly’s office manager Patrick Harley, Tory group leader on Dudley council, denied the MP was about to switch parties: “There is no truth in it whatsoever. He can’t make it any clearer apart from standing on the top of the House of Commons saying, ‘I’m not going anywhere.’”
The senior Tories’ warnings will be seen as an attempt to “flush out” Kelly. Ukip leader Farage said it was a “nasty and intimidating” move amid reports that two or three more MPs are toying with defecting.
“They are applying huge pressure to individuals, making them feel that if they did switch to Ukip, they will be traduced,” he added.
Kelly announced recently that he will stand down at the 2015 general election. Harley insisted this was a personal decision, adding: “He just wants a quality of life that being an MP does not afford.”
The Tories have been left reeling by the defection of Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless to Ukip.
Carswell is expected to win his Clacton seat in a by-election, while the Tories will throw everything at defeating Reckless in Rochester and Strood.
Mayor Boris Johnson warned would-be defectors yesterday that they would be “utterly nuts” to join Ukip. “If you really want to let this country sleepwalk into a Labour government, then that is your prerogative ... the rest of us are going to fight and win,” he wrote in his Telegraph column.