Roger Lord, Ukip’s original Clacton candidate, may defect to the Tories

Ukip's Clacton candidate, who is refusing to give way to Douglas Carswell, is now considering defecting himself - to the Conservative party.

By Anoosh Chakelian

(Photo By Nigel Farage and Douglas Carswell visit Clacton today, where Roger Lord wants to remain a candidate. Photo: Getty)

In a teetering-on-tedious game of what appears to be right-wing swapsies, the initial Ukip candidate for Clacton, Roger Lord (who was a Conservative party member in the past) has hinted on LBC that he may defect to the Tories.

Douglas Carswell, MP for Clacton, yesterday defected from the Conservatives to Ukip, and is triggering a by-election. But Lord has insisted that he wants to remain a candidate for Clacton, and won’t step aside for him. He said yesterday:

It’s pretty arrogant of Douglas Carswell to assume that the voters and the electorate are like sheep and they will just go along with this.

I genuinely hope that the national executive of Ukip will hear me out. For starters though It’s pure bad manners for someone from Ukip who I have never met to just ring me up and tell me to shut up.

Now, Lord has told LBC that he is considering doing a reverse-Douglas and joining the Tories instead, to be the Conservative candidate for the Clacton by-election. Here’s the clip:

listen to ‘Ukip’s Roger Lord: “I Might Defect To The Tories”’ on Audioboo

Would you go back to the Conservatives if they made you the right sort of approach?

It’s gotta be a damn good deal, a damn good deal.

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But it’s a possible, is it?

It’s a possible, but we shall see. Douglas Carswell’s still got the opportunity to do a deal, OK?

…

Have the Tories been in touch?

Sorry, you’re breaking up, due to the wind…

I personally think the best part of this interview is when Lord says, “I know what’s happening in South America” and the presenter James O’Brien goes “ooh!”

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