Rochester Tories suing Mark Reckless for cost of leaflets they had to throw away

The Tories in Rochester still haven't got over the fact that Mark Reckless defected to UKIP and then mauled them at the ballot box and have issued a claim against him for costs relating to campaign leaflets they've had to throw away.

Reckless' agent, Chris Irvine, has also been named on the claim for £3,000 to cover the cost of election material that they say was authorised by both Reckless and Irvine as recently as two days before he announced his defection.

It's unlikely that they'll be successful because the principal is quite absurd but it'll make an interesting (and expensive) test case for an ambitious lawyer. You'd think they'd be saving up for the £5,000 fine for exceeding the election spending limit with their postal primary publicity stunt that's surely coming their way once the Electoral Commission have received their election expenses return.

Second UKIP victor in Rochester

Mark Reckless' historic by-election win in Rochester & Strood wasn't the only election UKIP were contesting yesterday. Mark's election campaign manager, Chris Irvine, also contested the Medway Council seat that he resigned from when he defected to UKIP along with Mark Reckless and won with a 15% majority.

Congratulations, Cllr Chris Irvine.

Three Medway Tories defect to UKIP

The former chairman and deputy chairman of Medway Conservatives and an independent Medway councillor have defected to UKIP.

Cllr Chris Irvine was Mark Reckless' chief of staff until the MP defected to UKIP and resigned to call a by-election. He is acting as Mark Reckless' agent for the Middleton & Heywood by-election and had resigned from the Conservatives on the same day as Mark Reckless but wanted to sit as an independent until he could get feedback from his constituents. It would appear that the feedback was that they want a UKIP councillor to go with their UKIP MP.

Richard Andrews is the former chairman of Rochester & Strood Conservatives and Keith Bamber is the former Conservative group whip and deputy chairman of the local party. They have both defected to UKIP.

UKIP now has two councillors on Medway council.