Ukip have been approaching potential defectors and offering to pay for a poll in their constituency that shows how well they’d do as a Ukip candidate, Coffee House has learned.
Since boasting last week that they had a few more MPs who might defect to the party, Ukip have been trying again with some Conservatives they believe to be vulnerable. They approached one with what the MP describes as a ‘carrot-and-stick’ approach. ‘The pitch was you’re a great guy and we’ll pay for a poll with you as hypothetical Ukip candidate if you defect,’ said the MP, who didn’t want to be named. ‘The stick was we’ll soon select a good Ukip candidate who might cost you the seat.’
It is significant that the party is offering to pay for constituency polls, which do not come cheap at all, in order to tempt MPs over.
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