A former Conservative Party treasurer switches to UKIP:
Alexander Hesketh’s life has been synonymous with the Tory Party. He first canvassed for it at the 1959 election, aged nine. He was a minister in several departments under Mrs Thatcher, and John Major’s chief whip in the House of Lords for three years. He later became Conservative Treasurer.
So to announce that he is to join UKIP as a high-profile campaigner and fund-raiser is no ordinary political defection.
‘I’ve left for a number of reasons,’ he tells me in his West London home. A key factor is his strong belief that Europe has betrayed this country’s working people.
There is absolutely no excuse for the Tories betrayal of the British people. It is quite literal treachery.