English Democrats Eastleigh Chairman defects to UKIP

The Chairman of the Eastleigh branch of the English Democrats, John Edwards, has defected to UKIP today  citing the English Democrats' embarrassing performance in the Eastleigh by-election, the collapse of the local membership and constant accusations of racism and extremism as a result of the BNP takeover of the party.

The induction of former BNP members has tarnished the image of the party plus there has been some poor decisions made which led to an email being sent to Sinn Fein just over a year ago, which upset a lot of members here in Hampshire. Some resigned. People ask me ‘are you an extremist or a racist ?’ and family and friends have been forced to defend me. I didn’t get into politics for that. I’m not like that.

Edwards is a former Labour councillor and UKIP Eastleigh welcomed two Lib Dem councillors last month who decided to defect to UKIP during the by-election campaign.  The perception of UKIP as a right wing Tory protest vote is a myth as Eastleigh demonstrates.