“Ukip is guided more by dogma than common sense”: Amjad Bashir explains why he defected back to the Tories
Last night, former Ukip member Amjad Bashir defected back to the Conservative party.
He was elected Ukip MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber in 2014, and had also become the pro-independence party's communities spokesman.
Originally he moved over from the Conservatives because he wanted a definite referendum on Britain's European Union membership and desired the introduction of tighter immigration controls.
But writing in the Mail On Sunday this morning he described how he became progressively disenchanted with the party, which he now views as a “vanity project” that had “outlived its usefulness”.
I have decided to leave Ukip because it has become a vanity project for Nigel Farage and because many of the criticisms made of the party are true. David Cameron famously said that Ukip was a party of ‘fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists’.I joined Ukip because I wanted a referendum on the EU and wanted better controls on immigration. But now I have no doubt that Mr Cameron will deliver on this, so, in my view, Ukip has outlived its usefulness.I joined Ukip because I thought it was dedicated to those goals. But I now realise that Ukip is more concerned with furthering its own interests as a political party than delivering for the British people.Ukip is guided more by dogma than common sense.
The Pakistani-born businessman also said he experienced racism within Ukip, with some of the MEPs making “childish remarks during debates” and being “abusive towards MEPs from other countries".
Four months ago, Conservative MPs Mark Reckless and Douglas Carswell defected in the opposite direction, both leaving to join Ukip.