The former Tory MP, Ms Teresa Gorman, yesterday denied reports that she is to defect to the UK Independence Party. In a brief statement, she said: "Ms Gorman has retired from politics and she is not joining any other party."
Ms Gorman, a hardline Eurosceptic who has been a Conservative MP since 1987, is not standing in the general election. There had been speculation that she was the high-profile defector from the Tories which the UKIP promised to announce at its election rally in London yesterday.
Her statement came as the Euro-sceptic millionaire, Mr Paul Sykes, called for a referendum on withdrawal from the EU at the UK Independence Party rally attended by more than 350 supporters.
Mr Sykes, who said he was now financially backing the UKIP, warned: "Britain is no longer an independent nation. When we lose the currency it's bye-bye Britain." The party launched a poster asking: "Who governs Britain - Britain or Brussels?" Mr Sykes said EU treaties signed by both Tory and Labour governments had put Britain in a "death lock".
As the poster was unveiled, he said: "We cannot remain an independent self-governing nation and at the same time be a member of the EU.
"Seventy-one per cent of the people want a vote on whether we come out of the EU. They are ahead of the political parties. It is time the British people had a referendum on membership of the EU."
Asked why he was now backing the UKIP, Mr Sykes said: "It is the only party offering true independence."
He said that if the Tories wanted to "neutralise" the threat posed to their candidates by UKIP contenders in the election, the party should back Baroness Thatcher's comments this week that it would never give up the pound and it should offer a referendum on continued membership of the EU.
The UKIP is fielding 421 candidates at the general election on June 7th.
At the close of the meeting, the party leader, Mr Jeffrey Titford, said only the UKIP offered a "real choice between self-government and dictatorship by the EU".