Thurrock UKIP vote against Tory mayor so Tory MP accuses group of racism

The leader of the UKIP group in Thurrock has spoken out against accusations by the town's Conservative MP that their decision to reject the Conservative mayoral candidate was racist.

On hearing that that UKIP councillors had backed the Labour candidate Cathy Kent, Jackie Doyle-Price MP tweeted:

Take the view that anyone who has served as deputy mayor should become Mayor whatever party. Bad luck to Tunde #everydayracism

Cllr Graham Snell, the leader of UKIP 13 councillors in Thurrock, has dismissed the lazy accusation of racism and explained that the Conservatives were informed on a number of occasions prior to nominating Cllr Tunde Ojetola that UKIP would not back him due to his repeated hostility toward the party. Rather than select a new candidate, knowing that Cllr Ojetola would fail to be selected, the Conservatives kept telling Cllr Snell that they hadn't selected a candidate and eventually stopped answering his emails.

There was nothing racist about the decision to back Labour's mayoral candidate and it appears that Cllr Ojetola is the victim of a pathetic attempt to give the Conservatives an excuse to call UKIP racist.