The gossip here in Birmingham is that there is a third defector from the Tories to Ukip, that David Cameron knows his name and isn’t too bothered. But if that person is Richard Barnes, a former deputy Mayor of London who has announced his defection today, you can see why the PM is quite chillaxed about it. He’s someone with no national profile who was expelled from the Party earlier for this year for standing as an Independent against the Conservative Party’s approved candidate. He is also defecting in part of the country where Ukip support is at its lowest. Barnes has recited the now-familiar list of reasons for defecting to the Evening Standard. The former London Assembly member for Ealing and Hillingdon said:
‘There seems to be a detachment from ordinary people’s lives in the Westminster Village… The parties just don’t seem to relate and talk the language of normal people.
‘Do we really believe they can create a new settlement by 2017, with the agreement of all the member states.
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