The Ukip chairman in the Thanet South constituency where Nigel Farage is the party’s candidate at the general election has admitted being a former member of the National Front.
Martyn Heale told the BBC it was “really depressing” to be reminded that he was a member of the racist and neo-fascist NF in the 1970s. “I obviously regret what I did,” he said.
Subsequently Heale spent 20 years as a Conservative party activist before joining Ukip about 10 years ago. He is now a Ukip county councillor in Kent.
After the BBC’s World at One broadcast a report highlighting Heale’s background, Suzanne Evans, Ukip’s deputy chair, told the programme that media coverage of Ukip was unfair, and that the BBC never covered former NF members in other parties.
She claimed that in one week in April, 17 Labour, Tory or Lib Dem councillors nationwide were arrested, charged or convicted and another 13 were accused of racism, sexism of homophobia, but only one of these cases was reported in the national media.
