What made Mark Reckless decide to defect? Coffee House earlier revealed the timeline that led to the Tory MP standing on the conference stage in Doncaster today, but after his announcement, he sat down with a small group of journalists and explained why he’d decided that Ukip was the right party for him. It started with a row in Oxfordshire.
Before explaining, Reckless first refused a glass of wine, and when it was pointed out that sipping water was a little unusual for a Ukipper, he told the group that ‘I’m not a big drinker’, adding sheepishly ‘I had an unfortunate incident some time ago as some of you will recall’. Other Ukippers in the room were merrily consuming wine to toast their latest defection as he spoke.
Reckless’s grievances stretch back far longer than the 1922 Committee meeting where, like Douglas Carswell, he started to think the Prime Minister wasn’t serious about EU reform.
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