Teresa Gorman joins UKIP, rumours of more defections

Former Tory MP, Teresa Gorman, has gone public as a member of UKIP and is urging people to vote UKIP in the upcoming elections.

Gorman was a Maastricht rebel, openly criticising John Major's decision to ratify the Maastricht Treaty which created the political European Union from the European Community, the €uro and forced an EU citizenship on everyone who lives in an EU member state.

The Tories under the traitor Ted Heath took us into what is now the EU back in the 70s and the Tories have been behind every major power grab since, apart from the Lisbon Treaty which they were simply complicit in.  There have only been two opportunities for a referendum on membership of the EU - once in the 70s when Heath's government lied to the electorate to secure the yes vote and once last year when Cameron whipped his MPs to deny us the referendum we demanded.

Rumours still abound that one or more Tory MPs are planning to defect to UKIP with Angela Watkinson the latest one linked to the party.  Guido posted a list with odds a couple of weeks ago, suggesting Mark Pritchard and Bill Cash the most likely defectors, followed by George Eustice and Douglas Carswell and then Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorres.

• Mark Pritchard is Tory through and through and the Chairman of UKIP Telford & Wrekin branch is his former private secretary.  It wasn't a happy parting of company.  It's also my branch and we have ... history.
• Bill Cash was a Maastricht rebel like Angela Watkinson but other than produce some leaflets on the EU, has done very little to oppose our membership.
• George Eustice was a UKIP candidate in the 1999 EU elections but was turned by the Tories through his involvement with them when he worked in PR.
• Jacob Rees-Mogg is pretty rebellious (and co-incidentally contested Mark Pritchard's seat in 2001) but he's also a Cornish regionalist and an old Etonian - UKIP is possibly a little uncouth for Rees-Mogg.
• Nadine Dorres seems to be pretty disillusioned with the Tories at the moment - she's slating them again today on ConHome - but then who isn't?  She does seem to be trying to turn the Tories into UKIP though which is pretty futile but does make her probably the most likely one to defect.

It is very unlikely that just one MP will defect to UKIP so if Tory MPs have been talking to UKIP about defecting, they're probably waiting for another one or two to make the same pledge.

Cameron runs scared of UKIP in Telford

I was tipped off this morning that David Cameron was planning to visit Telford at 1pm today, at the motorway services. So guess where I was at 1pm today ... well, it would have been rude not to go wouldn't it?

Video: Shropshire Star

I managed to successfully infiltrate the crowd of Cameronian groupies with a UKIP poster without anyone noticing and had a chat with the photographers from the local paper.  Then someone had a phone call to say he was delayed in Dudley and would be half an hour late which was lucky because that gave enough time for the two UKIP candidates to turn up as well.

Shortly after the UKIP candidates turned up came the announcement that Cameron had cancelled his visit.  The official reason given was that so many people wanted to talk to the Messiah in Dudley that he simply didn't have time to stop at Telford on his way to Newtown.  The journey from Dudley to Newtown took him up the M54 through Telford and past the services that he was supposed to be visiting but he didn't have time to take the 704yd detour (I've measured it on Google Maps) up the slip road and round the corner to meet his groupies who'd been standing in the rain for 45 minutes to touch the hem of his Armani suit jacket.

The unofficial reason - given to me by someone who was there - was that Cameron had been told some UKIP people were there and had called it off because he was worried.  It's amazing what some people will tell a complete stranger!

The incumbent MP for the Wrekin decided to battle on and give a rousing speech for the reporters party faithful so they all gathered round him, gazing rapturously into his beaming face, holding their Conservative posters up behind their backs for the photographers.  All of them too engrossed to notice the three UKIP supporters standing between them and the cameras with UKIP posters or the big grins on the faces of the photographers who, I would imagine, were pretty pissed off with being stood up by the Messiah.

They weren't the only ones who were pissed off either, the TV cameraman that was there didn't bother interviewing the Tory candidates after Cameron cancelled and interviewed the two UKIP candidates instead.

All in all a productive and entertaining lunchtime.  Cameron bottled out at the first sign of trouble, the local Tories were livid (Mark Pritchard was fuming) and UKIP got some valuable publicity at their expense.

It was more entertaining than putting UKIP posters up outside David Wright MP's office last night while Labour Party activists watched me!

Bercow is the gift that keeps on giving

Nigel Farage's side must be hurting from laughing so much as Bercow hits the news almost daily being slagged off by members of his own party.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a press release in the morning saying that Nigel had to be rushed to hospital and sedated after seeing this ...

Angry MPs plot to oust Commons Speaker John Bercow for ‘being a little dictator’

MPs are plotting to oust Commons Speaker John Bercow amid accusations he is becoming “a bit of a little dictator”.

Nine months after he was elected Speaker, many Tory backbenchers are furious at the way he is treating colleagues. He is also said to be losing support among Labour MPs.

If he were toppled after a 6 May election, he would become the shortest serving Speaker since 1789.

But Mr Bercow today accusing a “political mujahidin” of seeking to undermine his Speakership. He also defended his insistence that MPs behave better in the Chamber.

Opposition to him, however, seems to have hardened after he slapped down Tory MP Mark Pritchard on Tuesday. One Tory frontbencher said: “He's become a little bit of a little dictator.”

John Bercow really is the gift that keeps on giving.