Kilroy-Silk in new leadership gambit
Former TV chat show host and outspoken critic of the European Union, Robert Kilroy-Silk, has reiterated his desire to lead the UK Independence Party at the next general election.
The intervention came after UKIP MEPs agreed to stamp out talk of any imminent leadership contest.
“Crisis talks” were held last Wednesday over reports of Mr Kilroy-Silk’s bid to dethrone current leader, Roger Knapman.
UKIP’s 12 MEPS agreed Mr Kilroy-Silk could face expulsion if he failed to toe the party line.
The MEP for the East Midlands has called for UKIP to “kill” the Conservative Party and contest the seats of eurosceptic Conservatives at the next general election.
In a 10-point letter to UKIP’s 300-plus branch chairmen today, the former Labour MP attacks Mr Knapman’s “shoddy electoral deals” with eurosceptic Conservatives and blasts Nigel Farage and his team in Brussels as a “self-selecting cabal.”
In the letter he calls for an “honest, open and grown up debate” about UKIP’s future goals.
Rhetorically he asks: “Do we want a party with vision, with a clear sense of purpose, that knows where it wants to go, and wants to win, or one that remains on the political fringe?”
Last night, Mr Farage said the latest political move was “spectacularly unhelpful and would inspire “considerable anger.”
Mr Knapman has vowed to fight tooth and nail to keep his job.
He has told the Financial Times: “I am half-way through an elected four-year term and I am not about to accept the leadership being taken over by someone who has been in the party for a few months.
“Mr Kilroy-Silk has to show that he is a team player and a period of silence from him is required.”
