THE former Ludlow MP Christopher Gill has announced his intention to stand as a candidate in the forthcoming general election.
But Mr Gill, who was the Conservative MP for south Shropshire from 1987 to 2001 is to stand this time as a candidate for the United Kingdom Independent Party (UKIP).
Mr Gill, a farmer and businessman left the Conservative Party in 2001 after he rebelled against the Treaty on European Union and had the party whip taken from him by John Major.
Now aged 73, he has lived quietly in south Shropshire since then but now feels that the electorate has been let down by all three major parties failing to honour promises of a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.
Mr Gill told the Journal this week that, apart from his anti-EU platform, he felt strongly that individual liberties were under attack and needed to be defended.
“I want to stick up for our democratic inheritance and bring back our historic freedoms,” he said. “As far as our individual liberty is concerned, our elected representatives seem to care not a fig!”
Mr Gill was unconcerned by possible accusations that he will split the right-wing vote in south Shropshire and damage the current Conservative MP Philip Dunne’s chances.
“I think I will be taking votes from all the other parties. There will be a lot of disenchanted Labour people who will be happy to vote for a party that stands up for this country. Others will be fed up with the rules coming from the EU. I just want to try and open up the debate so we can have a proper hard-fought campaign based on real issues. Someone has to break this cosy consensus among the major parties.
“I also hope that south Shropshire people will remember me as a man of decency, honesty and integrity.”
The main opposition party in the Ludlow constituency, the Liberal Democrats, lost the seat to Philip Dunne by 2,027 votes in 2005. Their candidate in 2010
Heather Kidd welcomed Mr Gill to the fray.
She said: “The competition is really hotting up and this election is going to be very exciting; it could go any way.”
A different view came from Labour candidate Tony Hunt: “UKIP is an eccentric sideshow. The choice in this election is between Labour and Conservative.”
The present MP Philip Dunne said: “This election provides the opportunity to change the government of Britain.
“Only the Conservatives can deliver that change. A vote for any of the minor parties, including UKIP, the BNP, LibDems or Greens will help keep Gordon Brown as
Prime Minister. It was his Labour government, supported by the Liberal Democrats, which denied the British people a referendum over the Lisbon Treaty before it was adopted into law throughout the EU.”
Other candidates standing are Jacqui Morrish, Green Party and Christina Evans, BNP.